American Prince
by Around here somewhere
Summary: The Grants are the closest thing to royalty that America has. The father owns a fishing empire based in North Carolina. The son, 23 year old Fitz, doesn't want anything to do with anything. He's sent down for the summer to stay at Governors mansion, with his 18 year old daughter, Olivia and work on the boats. AU starts a little OOC
1. The Royal Prince

Disclaimer: I do not own Scandal, if I could do that – I wouldn't worship at Shonda Rhimes' altar (lol)

A/N: So it just goes to figure that I would come up with another AU story for these two just in time for Finals week. Curious, huh? A whole new level of procrastination, I think. I tried to stop it but this one was just not going to let me sleep. The original idea was Romeo and Juliet-ish, that's why they're so young again I hope you guys like it It's a slightly less political in the middle of it than other ones… Let me know how you guys like it (and note, yes in the beginning Fitz is totally OOC) and let it be known that writing the first chapter nearly broke my heart (Gonna be a Wednesday update) : / Enjoy…

American Prince

Chapter One: The Royal Prince

Fitz pulled up in a shiny black mustang outside of one of Boston's most underground clubs, and the bouncers at the door rolled their eyes subtly – he pretended not to notice. He grabbed his wallet from the center console and took a minute before getting out of the car. The mustang was just one of the several cars he drove around the city while he was there for school. But it was summertime, and that meant the mustang was out – even if it was for only one night. He refused to get out without an audience, he wasn't one to go into the club by himself – especially on his last night in town. In the morning he was leaving to go back to New York, to hear what a disappointment he was for the summer.

"Fitzy, Fitzy," He heard his buddy Chase chant as he smacked his hands on the hood of the car, and Fitz chuckled as he slipped his sunglasses back on and adjusted the collar on his shirt.

"C'mon, dude," said Brad, "I need a drink."

"Yeah, we'll get there," Fitz replied, and they fell in line behind him as he walked right by the bouncers – ignoring the line, ignoring them.

"So how'd you do on your finals?" Chase asked as they reached the bar.

"Tanked 'em," Brad said, snagging the first beer as the bartender had their favorites waiting for them.

"Me too, at least we'll be retaking things together," Chase said, downing in first one in a couple gulps, "How 'bout you, Fitzy?"

"Flying colors," He replied – throwing his sunglasses on top of his head, taking a sip of his own beer as they headed over across the bar to where the dancing was.

"How the flying fuck did you manage that one?" Brad asked, picking up another beer as someone passed him with one.

"You were further in the can than we were the night before," Chase said, "I was surprised you even showed up."

"But I did," Fitz smirked as a woman came up to them with a platter of tequila shots, "Thank you, Gorgeous."

"No problem, Fitz," She gave him a little smile, they each did a couple of shots, then she walked away – letting them watch her go.

"Dang," Brad said, and Fitz nodded as he did the third shot he had grabbed as she was leaving and slammed the empty glass on the bar behind him.

"So how many girls you taking back to your big fancy apartment tonight, Fitz?" Chase smirked as he watched Fitz watch about three girls come off the dance floor.

"The night is still young," Fitz replied as he latched his sunglasses on to the front of his shirt.

"Fitz, oh my _God_," said a brunette as she walked over to him, half stumbling, "What're you doing here? I thought you had to go back to New York?"

"Ah, hey Tammy," He said, putting his hand up on her shoulder, "Naw, I leave in the morning."

"It's Britt," She reminded him, and he nodded.

Shit.

"Sorry, sorry," He replied, turning on his charming smile and she shook her head as she took both his hands.

"It's ok, I know you're a very busy guy," She replied a sultry as she pulled him out onto the dance floor, "C'mon, dance with me."

"Course," was Fitz's only reply.

And from then on he was lost from his friends for about an hour – ripped from song to song with a different girl. He smirked, and let it happen – leaving each one with a minimum of a kiss goodbye. It was standard, and they all seemed to understand and expect one. While he was riding up on one of the girls, a little blonde one that he wasn't entirely sure had eaten in the past three years, he spotted Brad and Chase taking Jell-o shots off of girls at the bar. He took one look at the girl he had been dancing with – who had announced herself as Chloe – and went to give her a kiss goodbye.

What he meant as a sloppy kiss to dismiss her was taken much differently. She threw her arms up around his neck and he let her drag him over into the corner of the club. He could feel one of her hands running down his body, and kissed her fiercely as he returned the favor. They broke apart and she slipped her number into his pocket. He took a deep breath and headed over to where Chase and Brad were greeting him with a couple less than subtle thumbs up.

"We're talking about the guy who partied his way through undergrad," Chase was saying as Fitz was walking up, "Took off his Senior year to go party down-under, came back, aced his finals – then convinced mommy and daddy he had to go find himself in the South of France."

"Who the hell finds themselves in the South of France?"

"I always wondered how I got away with that," Fitz said as he walked up, chuckling as Brad slapped him on the back.

"But that's why he's not going to settle for just one girl on his last night in Boston."

"So the Blonde and who else?" Chase asked and Fitz shrugged.

"I don't know," He said, leaning over and casually nipping a shot off of a bare stomach – not even looking for the face.

"Word travels quick," Brad slurred, "They all know you're leaving tomorrow."

"The poor girls have to go a whole summer without ya, Fitzy," Chase commented as he threw back another shot of who knew what that appeared before him.

"You two take your pick first," Fitz replied apathetically, "I think I'll just take the brunette, teal shirt."

"Not the blonde?"

"She slipped me her number," Fitz replied, taking it out of his pocket and handing it to Chase, "I'm not in for that."

"Ouch," Brad said, taking it and throwing it into an abandoned beer.

The boys disappeared into the crowd, and Fitz spotted the brunette that he had been talking about getting a drink on the opposite side of the bar. He went over, she knew that it was him and he cocked his head to the side. He nibbled at her neck seductively to get her full attention, and when he did smiled at her – releasing his overwhelming charm.

"Hey, I didn't catch your name earlier."

"Nikki," She replied in a slightly nasally giggle.

"Well, Nikki," He replied as he got himself closer to her – enough so that she really couldn't see much else other than his chest, she looked up, "Would you like to get out of here with me?"

"Sure," She replied, finishing up the drink that was in her hand and allowing him to lead her out of the club.

Fitz woke up six hours later naked in bed with his alarm clock blaring in his ear and very little recollection of what had happened the night before. He looked over next to him to see a girl, also naked, and not really being covered by the sheets that were almost entirely pushed to the end of the bed. He rolled off the edge of the bed, trying to rack his brain to remember her name – but couldn't bring himself to care for more than a few seconds. He pulled up the blanket and wrapped it around himself.

"Good morning," He smiled charmingly as he girl sat up.

"Morning," She gave him a coy little half smile, and he nodded.

"Listen, I have to get to the airport," He said, and she nodded as she looked over at the clock, "Last night was…"

"Fantastic," She smiled as she got up to go over to him.

"Yeah," He said, taking a step back, "It's really a nice night – but now I have to get going."

He then delved into his nearly fill-in excuse that was a sure fire way to get a girl out of his apartment within a mere couple minutes. As he didn't remember her name he had to improvise a little bit, and go on without it. Within five minutes she was dressed and out of the house without being too upset about it. Then, he hopped in the shower. He was a little out of it – not sure if he was still a little drunk or just hung over. He got ready to go, and saw the sunlight streaming through the window. He threw on his favorite pair of sunglasses and headed to Logan to catch his private flight to New York.

He got off the plane and his Lamborghini was waiting for him, almost exactly in the same place as he had left it when he want to school. He was sure his father had someone drop it off earlier that morning, the keys waiting for him in the front seat. He hopped in and drove up to the family compound where he was planning to piss away his summer in an alcoholic haze – not much different than what he did all the time. He pulled up and the gates opened, letting him right inside to park where he had since he was sixteen and his parents had just given him his first car. It had been a quaint little Mercedes convertible that he very quickly wrapped around a tree. This was followed by a string of cars until finally he was getting the ones that he wanted. The Porsches, the Mustangs, the Lamborghinis.

He walked into the living room through the back door and made a b-line for the Scotch cabinet. Whether he was hung over or still drunk it didn't matter – he knew how to get out of it. He drained a glass of Scotch, and then headed up to his room. He threw on his swim trunks and headed down toward the pool. There was only a couple ways that he knew how to shake it, and most of it was exercise. He hopped into the pool and started swimming laps – whether it helped or it just distracted him, it still helped. It at least worked some of his muscles – and he had a photo shoot the next day.

"Hey, Fitz," He heard the neighbor girl say as he pulled himself out of the pool.

"Hey, Crissy," He said, watching as his dim-witted but attractive girl next door walked into the pool area – he couldn't stand the sound of her voice, but she was good enough to look at.

"When'd you get back?"

"A few minutes ago," He told her, "I'm pretty tired…"

"Ok," She replied, lying down in a deck chair to get some sun, and Fitz run his eyes over her body before sitting down in his own chair and slipping on his shades again.

He laid there and let the sun dry him for a while before taking a deep breath, and asking Chrissy to get him a beer form the bar. She got up and did without saying a word, and handed it to him with a little bounce, and sat back down. He smirked as he opened it up and drank it pretty slowly. He was about to start trying to figure out how to get her to go when he saw his parents walking into the pool area, and sighed heavily. He wasn't going to have to ask Chrissy to go by himself, Julie and Gerry would do that for him as they strutted towards him.

"Fitz, you're home," Julie said as they walked up, and he nodded as he set his beer down, not bothering to sit up as they stopped by his feet.

"Yeah, got in a couple minutes ago," He said and she nodded.

"Chrissy, we're going to need to talk to Fitz about his schedule."

"Ok, see you around, Grant family," Her voice squeaked – going right throw Fitz's minor headache as she bounced away from them and back towards her house.

"You have a shoot tomorrow for GQ," Julie told him and he nodded.

"I know."

"A beer?"

"It'll be fine, mom," He replied as he sat up and peeled off his glasses and leaned back.

"You shouldn't be drinking beer before it," She grabbed it from his hand and he shot up to his feet.

"Hey!" He said as she threw it out.

"Don't be drinking so close to a photo shoot!" She scolded him.

Fitz rolled his eyes as she crossed her arms. This was why he hated going home, he could handle the photo shoots by himself. There was no reason for her to chuck his beer.

"I'm not thirty-five," He told her, "I'm twenty-three. I don't blow up like a balloon after one beer."

"Is it ever one beer?" She asked.

"Short and simple, Fitz, don't drink before your photo shoots," Gerry finally spoke up and he took a deep breath, "Are you ready to come into the office with me this summer?"

"No," Fitz replied shortly, "What would you need me there for?"

"To get you introduced to the company, son," He replied, "It's going to be yours eventually."

"I'm the face of it, Dad," Fitz replied, "I'm not sure why because I couldn't even begin to give a shit about a damn fishing company in Georgia!"

He would never understand why his family couldn't get the fact that he didn't want anything to do with the company. It was ridiculous, and so nearly obsolete that it wasn't even funny anymore. Besides, they had enough money now that he would be able to live comfortably until the day he died – he saw no issues. Dad would run the company until it was no longer needed, and then they would sell the name. After that, he would get himself his own mansion – probably in California on the beach and live his life the way he wanted to. The way he'd been living it up until then.

"It's in North Carolina, Fitz," Gerry corrected him and he shrugged.

"Sorry."

He wasn't, but he usually got away with it anyways.

"That's not the point," Gerry said, "I don't know what to do with you – you're not doing anything with your life. You somehow managed to get through undergrad by the seat of your pants. Even with that God-awful detour to Australia in the middle of the semester. And then managed to get us to send you to the South of France for a year to 'Find Yourself' and partied the entire time. And do you think we don't get news reports of what you're doing in Boston while you're supposed to be studying business, at Harvard?"

"My grades haven't been effected."

"We're well aware of that," Gerry replied, rolling his eyes disgruntledly, "Have you even thought about how much better you could be doing and how much more you could be learning if you weren't out until three drinking every night?"

"What do I have to do better for?" He asked, it was a genuine question.

"I don't know how we could have gone so wrong with you, Fitz," Gerry said, gritting his teeth, "You're such a smart kid – I don't understand the lack of motivation. There must be something your like – something you want to do other than drink and screw random women every night."

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that, Fitz…" Julie started, and Fitz raised his eye brows.

He couldn't believe this, what was it? An intervention?

"Not now, honey," Gerry cut across her like he usually did and Fitz took a deep breath.

"Are you two done?" He asked as he walked over to the bar and poured himself some scotch.

"No," Gerry forced a stern voice as Fitz stopped in front of him – Fitz was caught off guard.

"What?"

"Fitz, you've left us with no choice," He said, "Directly after your shoot tomorrow we're sending you down to North Carolina."

"You're joking," Fitz furrowed his eye brow and Gerry shook his head.

"You're going to stay with Governor Pope while you're down there," Gerry went on, "And, you're going to work on one of our fishing boats down there."

"North Carolina? You've got to be shitting me," He said, angrily, "I'll be killed by some lunatic toting a shot gun. You can't be serious."

"Gerry, there must be something else…"

"Shut up, Julie," Gerry said, and Fitz's mother went silent, taking a step back, "You're going down and you'll be a guest in Governor Pope's mansion, you'll be polite and you're going to work on a fishing boat for the summer."

"And what if I don't go?" Fitz asked, "I'm twenty-three years old, as you've pointed out. You can't just ship me off to boarding school for being bad like you did when I was younger. I'm not sixteen."

"I most certainly can make you go," Gerry replied angrily as Julie took another step back.

"Mom," Fitz tried to appeal to her softer nature, "You can't let dad ship me off like this – those rednecks will kill me. Is that what you want?"

"We're running out of options, Fitzgerald," She said softly, "One day we're going to turn on the news and find out you've crashed one of your cars and died along with whatever fluzy you had selected for yourself that evening. I stand with your father."

"So what if I don't go," Fitz replied, Gerry took a deep breath.

"Then we're cutting you off, son," Gerry said solemnly, "It's one summer, who knows? You might have some fun. I'm sure they have bars down there too."

"Mom?" Fitz tried again.

"We have your stuff packed away, and most of it's already there," She replied, "We'll go to the airport with you after the shoot for GQ. Please don't make this any harder than it has to be."


	2. The Activist in Training

A/N: Thanks for the love guys :) I'm actually really in love with this story line, and can't wait for you guys to really get into it (Did I say updates on Wednesday? Maybe after this one…)… Time for you guys to meet Olivia…Enjoy…

American Prince

Chapter Two: The Activist in Training

Olivia was almost done packing up her dormitory room at Deerfield Academy. She had officially graduated the weekend before, and her family had come up to celebrate, and see her walk, but then she had stayed the second week. Her summer job didn't start for two weeks after graduation, and she had been invited to stay for an extra honors award ceremony. Her parents had wanted to stay for it too, but they had had to go back for their jobs. She understood that. Typically people didn't even stay for the honors ceremonies, they just went home after graduation and had their extra awards mailed to them, but she figured she might as well stay as opposed to hanging around at home. It wasn't that she didn't like home, but she would have another week to spend with her family before the camp she was going to work for started up.

"Olivia, you're still here?" Quinn, a sophomore who was by definition stuck at school for another week, said as she walked into her half-packed up room.

"Yeah, my plane doesn't leave til tomorrow around one," Olivia said and the younger girl nodded as she sat down on Olivia's roommate's ex-bed.

"You want any help packing up?" She asked, and Olivia nodded – motioning over to a stack of magazines.

"Those can all get thrown away," Olivia told her as she crossed the room to pick them up, "Can you run them to the trash chute?"

"You're going to throw away Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III's beautiful face?" Quinn was shocked as she held up the magazine that was lying on top.

It was the previous month's Forbes, with the charming, sly smiling pretty-boy on the cover. She had gotten it for an article that she needed for her economics class, and just managed to find that it had a seven page spread of the nearly notorious face of Grant Fisheries. The current heartthrob of most of the girls on campus – too bad none of them would have known to look in Forbes for his picture. They probably found them online though. She took a deep breath and looked at Quinn for a second before responding.

"You can keep that one if it's so against your religion," Olivia teased her, and Quinn smiled, putting the magazine under her arm.

"Thanks," Quinn smiled, then held it out so Olivia could see the cover, "You don't think he's the least bit attractive? Really?"

"He's cute," Olivia admitted, "He just seems so arrogant-"

She had a choice few other words to describe what she had seen of him, but decided against them in front of her younger friend.

"He has the right to be arrogant…" Quinn trailed off as she headed out into the hallway again.

No one had the _right_ to be **that** arrogant.

Olivia threw the last couple things that she was able to pack the night before she left into her trunk. Her parents had brought most of the stuff home for her last weekend, and she wasn't keeping a lot of the stuff. Her mother and her had resolved to get new stuff for her dorm room at Berkeley in the fall. It didn't make sense to drag her things from Massachusetts, to North Carolina, to California. It would be cheaper just to buy new stuff once they got to California. Which was just find with her, it meant that all she had to bring back with her was her trunk and her backpack – filled with clothes and the more sentimental things. She said goodnight to Quinn, then crawled into bed and went to sleep – dreaming of being home.

The one thing that she had hated about going to a boarding school for high school was the fact that she was so far away from her family. But more than that, her little sister, Maya, who had only been four when she went away for Freshman year. She was eight now, and Olivia felt like she had one summer to really get to know her sister before she shipped off again. By the time she was out of college, Maya would be going away for high school (which was when they were sent to boarding school). She was thinking of all the things she would do with Maya in the week before Camp started – just the two of them when she woke up in the morning and got her things together. Her mother had enrolled Maya in Environmental Protection Camp anyways – seeing it was good for her to do something good – and spends extra time with her older sister. Maya was adorable, and Olivia couldn't wait to spend time with her.

The school provided transportation to the airport, from where she called her father to let him know that everything was running on schedule. She got onto the plane and took out her laptop to work on her required reading for Camp. It was a small agency, but it worked around the marina. She was going to spend her summer cleaning up the parks, and the beaches near her with little kids, and she was going to get paid for it. She was more than excited about it. She got off the plane with a smile, even if it was a week or so away.

"Admiral," She smiled as she ran up to her father, he had already grabbed her trunk off the baggage claim carousel.

"There's my Liv," Her tough, nearly rigid father smiled as he leaned in and gave her a big bear hug.

He insisted that both of his girls called him 'Admiral' or 'The Admiral' since they were small – and Olivia really had no idea why he did. She guessed that it fit him pretty well, and while she was little he had been an Admiral in the Navy – but still. 'Daddy' fit him just as well, and it wasn't like they never got away with calling him it, it was just one of those things. She thought once maybe it was a sign of respect, that no matter how wealthy the family was that he still wanted his girls to know discipline, well he had made sure of that. She wasn't sure, but at one point or another calling him 'Admiral' just became the immediate name for him.

"Where's mom and Maya?"

"Maya's at school for another hour, and your mother's started dinner already," He told her and Olivia smiled, "Your favorite. Welcome home, kiddo."

"Thanks," She smiled as she took a step back, wondering why they weren't moving towards the door yet, "Are we waiting for someone or something?"

"We're having a house guest this summer, I thought I mentioned it to you when we were up for your graduation."

"Oh, ok, anyone I would know?" She asked curiously as she took a sidestep and stood by her father, "It's weird you didn't mention it."

"Sorry," He replied, "It's a favor for his father. We weren't a hundred percent sure he was coming until a couple days ago."

"Who is it?" Olivia asked again, and he opened his mouth up to speak, but didn't even have to answer.

Olivia watched as she spotted a guy walking through the crowd, rolling a suitcase behind him, and a duffle bag thrown over his shoulder. She could tell it was the guy her father was talking about because even with the sunglasses she could tell how much he didn't want to be there. He was tall, and handsome, his wavy brown hair a little tossled from the flight, and his plaid button up almost looked a size or two too small for him. It took until he stopped in front of her for her to fully realize that she had seen him before, and recently. It was Fitzgerald. Fitz, as apparently just about everyone called him.

"How was your flight, Fitz?" Her father said as he stopped in front of them, and pulled out one of his earbuds.

"It was fine," He replied a little begrudgingly.

"Well, I'm Governor Pope, but you can just call me Admiral, or the admiral, it's what my girls call me," He told him, "This is my daughter, Olivia – she's headed to Berkeley in the fall."

"Nice to meet you," Fitz said, smiling in that forced charming way that she had seen so many of her friend gawk over in pictures.

"You too," Olivia said politely and her father looked around.

"That everything?" He asked Fitz, and Fitz half nodded, half shrugged.

"Well your parents shipped some stuff down anyways," The Admiral said as he carried Olivia's trunk for her, leading the way out of the airport, and to the car which had special permission to be parked just by the door.

Olivia was just about floored as she hopped into the front seat, and heard Fitz slide in behind her. He was, she had to be honest with herself, much more attractive in real life – but also apparently at least three times as bad as she thought. How old was he, twenty-something? And his mommy and daddy felt the need to send him away for the summer to reform with the Admiral? Whatever the hell was going on with Fitz, Olivia resolved that it was not her problem. She was home for the summer, she was working at crappy summer job that would actually look good for her, and she had plenty to do without worrying about him. She resolved very quickly that he would only be there for entertainment purposes, like laughing at him to herself when he tried to come home drunk. If he was dumb enough to try that – which he might just be.

She just prayed that he wouldn't be too much of a pain in the ass – especially if he was going to be just hanging around all summer. She knew his reputation, but she didn't really care. If he was going to be partying, his ass would be back at his mommy and daddy's before he knew it. The Admiral was never one to allow such behavior of someone who was staying under his roof. He didn't care what you did – but you had to do something productive.

"So your dad tells me you're at business school up at Harvard?"

"Yeah," Fitz replied simply.

"And you're going to be working down by the Marina?"

"Yup."

"Well, we have a car for you to use while you're here," The Admiral was telling him, "We just have a few house rules that you'll need to be aware of. There's no coming back drunk. I understand you're legal age, and you'll be fishing all day, so I'm not saying no drinking, but there's no alcohol at the house. Except my wife and I keep one bottle of wine. There's no coming back after one AM – you'll have the same curfew as Olivia. It's not because we want to run your life, but we have a dog, and he barks when you come in. Maya, our eight year old, needs her sleep, and wakes up at anything. Also, we don't swear in the house, and dinner's served promptly at seven. If you're not going to be there, we ask that you let us know if you're not going to be there. We just expect a certain level of respect, sound reasonable?"

Olivia couldn't help but look back in the mirror at Fitz's face. She knew that her family was a little old fashioned – but they had to be, Maya was only eight. If she was the only child, she knew things would be different. Maya being so young meant that certain things just couldn't happen. However, by the look on Fitz's face – even with the sunglasses to help mask it – he had found quite a few things wrong with the basic rules that had just been set out for him. Olivia smirked a little and faced forward – trying to avoid looking at her dad. So he had heard about Fitz's reputation before too.

They got to the house, and her mother met the car with some cookies. She gave Olivia a hug and a kiss, then told Fitz to get his things and whisked him away up to show him where he was staying – typical mom. Always ready to show someone some love – no matter who they were.

"Liv," Her father said as they went around the car to get her trunk, "I know the boy's reputation, ok?"

"I could tell by the speech he got in the car," Olivia replied, and he nodded.

"But I don't want you to think badly on him, ok?" He said, and Olivia quirked an eyebrow, "The poor kid is going to have an interesting enough of a time down here to begin with. He's going to have to adjust pretty quickly to being normal – which I'm getting he's not at all used to."

"Why'd you say you'd do this?" Olivia was genuinely curious, "Odds are he's going to go out partying tonight."

"I don't think he will," He replied, "He doesn't have any friends down here. And I told his parents I'd take him because they're scared. They don't know what to do with him. His mother was nearly in tears because she's afraid if he keeps going the way he is he'll end up dead with one of his fancy cars wrapped around a tree."

"True," Olivia replied and her father nodded as they headed towards the house, "What car are you giving him?"

"The Ford," He replied, and Olivia smiled – holding back a chuckle.

"Can I be there when you hand him _those_ keys?"

"Why?"

"It's a '96 ford," Olivia pointed out, "It's older than Maya."

"It runs, and it'll get him to and from the docks," her father shrugged as they headed up the kitchen stairway to the landing just outside the girls' rooms, "Honestly if he had anything fancier I'm sure the other guys would give him an even harder time then they're going to."

"Where's he staying?" Olivia asked out of basic curiosity and her father set her trunk down in the middle of her bedroom as she set her backpack down on her bed.

"The room across from your mom and I," He said, checking his watch, "I have to get back to work."

"I'll get Maya from school," She told him as they walked out of her room – and she shut the door behind her.

"Thanks, kiddo," He said, as he went down the hall and popped his head into the guest room Fitz was using, "I have to get back to work, c'mon, I'll show you the car you'll be using."

Olivia led the way down to the garage – where her Camry, which had originally been her mother's was waiting for her. Her mom's new SUV was in the next spot, and in the corner was the old F-150 that she had been offered at sixteen. It was what she had learned to drive on, but by seventeen she had saved enough to 'buy out' her mom's old car when she got her new SUV. It wasn't that her parents actually took the money, it was just the show of responsibility and trust that she had the money for the repairs and things on it. The insurance was on them, but everything else was up to her.

"That's what you'll be driving," Olivia heard her father say, as he led Fitz over to the old and faded red, slightly starting to rust truck.

"Seriously?" This was the first thing that Olivia had really heard the guy say.

"Yup," said her father, handing him the keys, "Not what you're used to driving around, I'm sure – but it'll get you from A to B."

Olivia didn't hang around to hear any more of their conversation before she hopped into her little car and took off towards Maya's elementary school. She smiled as she pulled up to the curb and got out of the car. Maya was used to being picked up, so she knew so come to parent pickup instead of going on the bus – but she wouldn't be looking for Olivia's car.

"Maya!" She called as she saw her adorable baby sister starting to had over towards her.

"Liv!" A smile bigger than her little face appeared and she made a run for Olivia. Who smiled and leaned down to hug her little sister as she came up to her.

"I missed you."

"I thought Admiral was picking me up," Maya said as Olivia opened her door for her, slipping her backpack off her little shoulders.

"He had to go back to work – and I wanted to pick you up," She smiled as Maya sat down in the back seat and Olivia handed her her bag, "I missed your face."

"I missed your face, too," Maya mimicked her big sister, and Olivia smiled as she watched her buckle in.

"So mom and dad offered up our house to a guy for the summer?"

"Fitz," She answered, "Mom told me this morning. He's staying in the guest room."

"Oh, so they tell you," Olivia replied as she pulled out of the elementary school.

"Is he here yet?"

"Yeah," Olivia replied and Maya smiled.

"It's gonna be so much fun."

"I don't know that it is, princess," Olivia said with a little smile as she headed back to the house, "I hope so though."

"We'll have fun though this summer, right?" Maya said and Olivia smiled.

"We most certainly will," She told her as she pulled back into the driveway.

"I wish my school was done," Maya made a face as her feet hit the driveway, and Olivia laughed.

"Yeah, I wouldn't," She said as she took her backpack for her and she went running towards the house.

"Hey, mom," Olivia said as she walked into the living room – Maya running off to her own room, "I know I just got home, but after dinner would you mind if I went over to Abby's?"

"No, of course not," She smiled knowingly, "Party?"

"Her graduation party," Olivia said, and her mom nodded.

"Just remember to be safe, ok?" She said, "Maybe you should bring Fitz with you…"

"Mom, you can't be serious."

"He doesn't know anyone down here."

"Isn't that kind of the point?"

"Oh, c'mon he's the same age as most of the guys you hang out with when you're home…"

"Mom, please?" Olivia said, "I'm half certain my friends would disown me if I showed up with that…"

She trailed off to avoid swearing – a habit her mother knew that she did a lot.

"Fine, but make sure you're home early – I need your help in the morning."

"Ok."


	3. The House of Pope

A/N: So Ah, I say screw update dayz because I have papers to be writing, and writing these actually help (Keeping the juices flowing when I get stuck/to get them going in the first place), and once they're done there's no point in keeping them to myself. thanks to all my fantastic reviewers, and readers. You guys are in for quite a ride… Enjoy…

American Prince

Chapter Three: The House of Pope

It was one summer, that was it – and if he had anything to say about it it wouldn't be a whole one. He could go to work, have a beer before going back to the house, eat dinner with the Pope family, mostly just because Mrs. Pope was a cook worthy of the gods. Then he would lock himself in his room with his laptop and pretend to be part of the world still. It didn't matter – he just had to go on survival mode until the end of the summer, then he would be headed back to Boston. Once he was back at school he could go back to partying and having fun. This summer wasn't going to change him.

Just because he had shut himself off from them for the most part didn't mean that he hadn't picked up on their personalities. He had always thought that being able to make quick summaries of people had been one of his better and more useful skills. Eli Pope was the kind of guy who required his own family to call him 'Admiral' which meant very little to him. From his experience with his father's friends most people who clung to their military designations had barely seen combat. 'Admiral' seemed nice enough though, and he could already tell that he wasn't half the hard-ass he tried to be. He was a workaholic, a terrible disease that Fitz pitied greatly, and something the Admiral had in common with his own father.

Mrs. Pope was really a sweet woman, and he had absolutely no criticisms of her. She was smart, and sweet. She was the black Mrs. Cleaver, and Fitz actually really liked her. She took care of things, and was kind to everyone – but he got the distinct gut feeling that on the other end of the spectrum, she was much worse than Admiral could be when he tried. She cooked the meals, saw the kid (Maya) to school every morning and made her lunches at night. She was kind of like a caricature of what his mother wanted to be like – if the vodka martini's hadn't gotten in the way. Maya was a cute kid. She was like six, or eight or something and she followed him around when he ventured out of his room.

Then there was Olivia. The perfect daughter – who seemed like she pretty much was exactly what any parent would dream of having. He pretty sure that was what she was going for too. She was a little hippie-like not in the way that she dressed, but the way that she went about things and the fact that she was so concerned with everything around her. No one seemed to mind, though he would have assumed that the 'Admiral' would have had a problem with his daughter being what his father liked to call a 'crunchy' but it didn't seem to bother anyone. She seemed sweet, people pleasing, but sweet – kind of like her mother. However, she seemed a little tougher.

Then, of course, there was the fact that she was beautiful. That was something that he had picked up on right away – as he was walking up in the airport. He had a radar for things like that. Things like that, he could spot a mile away. Another thing he could spot a mile away was his chances with a someone – and he knew he had no shot in hell with her. He could recognize when someone was so far out of his league that it was laughable. She was smart, and smart girls, smart women, they never wanted anything to do with him. When her father had told him that she'd just graduated from Deerfield, he had to stop himself from telling them that was one of the schools on the very long list that had kicked him out. However, she apparently had decided ignoring his existence was a good way to go – he couldn't blame her – so he just figured he'd leave her alone.

Working on the boat was whole new level of hell. If he thought that living with the Pope's was going to be awful, he hadn't even really considered how low on the totem pole his father had placed him on the boat. He had always though of himself as a muscular kind of guy – and never had any problems lifting something for someone or showing off – but apparently it took an entirely different set of muscles for hauling up nets and dragging tens of pounds of dead fish weight than it did to carry a girl over his shoulder down the street. He was aching in places that he didn't even know could hurt – and his hands were rubbed raw from the ropes on the boat.

He had been taught to sail as a teenager – one of those things his father decided was really important for him to know how to do – but the ones he learned on practically sailed themselves. The fishing boat was – far, far, from that. It was old – the oldest one on the fleet, as far as he knew – and the ropes were all entirely unforgiving. The first day wasn't really a problem, but by the third his hands were all full of cuts. He knew he had to take care of it – but he didn't want the Pope's to have to deal with it. He wanted to breeze through this summer without any weakness showing. So, he waited until it was about midnight before he snuck downstairs to the kitchen, where he had been told there was a first aid kit.

"What're you doing down here?" He heard in the semi-dark as he was looking around for it in the kitchen.

He stood up, and looked over to see Olivia, standing there in her bathing suit – a towel draped over her arm. She set a pair of goggles down on the counter and was watching him curiously. He had to swallow hard as he, upon habit looked her up and down – he had no control over it, and since he had done it so many times – he had it down to a science. She didn't have clue – but all of a sudden he just couldn't stop himself from staring at her – she was drop dead gorgeous, and he was tongue tied. It must have been the way the moon was lighting up her soft shoulders or the way it ghosted around the features of her face. He couldn't even believe it – he was racking his brain to answer her question. For the life of him he couldn't remember why he had come down to the kitchen.

"You're not running are you?" She almost sounded hopeful, and he shook his head.

"They'd cut me off," He replied simply – who cared if she knew, "I was just looking for the First-Aid kit, your mom said it was here somewhere…"

"It's on top of the fridge," Olivia told him simply, setting her towel down beside her goggles and sliding a chair over to the fridge.

He took a deep breath, really wishing that she wouldn't do that. He watched her tiny, bathing suit clad body jump up onto the chair and reached up on top of the fridge to find it. She had no idea the kind of tease that she was to him. He knew that she had absolutely no interest in him, he knew that. He didn't stand a chance, but he couldn't stop himself from looking. He wasn't sure if she didn't notice, or if she didn't care – it was probably a little bit of both. She eventually turned back around and hopped down – handing him the white tin box.

"You hurt yourself sitting up in your room all day?" She asked curiously, and he didn't answer as she picked her stuff back up.

"Thanks," He said as he got the box open – and she must have spotted the state of his palms.

"Jesus," She said, dropping all of her things back on the counter as she walked over and sat down in front of him – taking the box from him, "You do realize you're supposed to wear gloves when you're working on the boat, don't you pretty-boy?"

He would have been flattered enough to raise an eyebrow, but there was definitely a derogatory tone in how she said it. She rolled her eyes at him as she took out some kind of ointment and took his left hand, dabbing some of it onto his hand with a cotton ball. It smelled like shit – and he retracted his hand.

"I can do it, thanks," He grumbled and she gave him a rather unimpressed face.

"Oh really?" She replied and he quirked an eyebrow – she sounded like she had an argument, "Your hands are going to get infected if you don't get to them properly, and wear gloves from now on. Dad's got some in the garage that he never uses – you can take them. I know you're probably way too cool for them, but I'm guessing you're not too cool for hands that are a little softer than cow hide. That's your business anyways, but right now, how exactly are you planning on wrapping up both of your hands by yourself?"

"You're smart," He commented, pulling over a chair and showing her both of his palms, and she went back to lobbing on the white shit, "Maybe I shouldn't have gotten myself kicked out of Deerfield my Freshman year."

"How did you manage that?" She said, "We snuck out every single weekend my sophomore year on, it's almost impossible to get caught…"

He smirked, so maybe she wasn't the perfect little angel that her parents thought she was.

"You know what – never mind," Olivia said, "I don't want to know."

He shrugged, he had the very distinct feeling that he didn't want to tell her either. He took a deep breath and winced a little bit.

"You're pretty awkward around Maya," Olivia said it like it had been killing her as she wrapped up his left hand.

"Am I? She follows me everywhere."

"She's little," Olivia told her, "You don't have to whip out the charm every time she's around, and you don't have to try and lose her all the time either. She's eight – if you talk to her for a minute or two she'll move on and find something else – she's just curious."

"Noted," He replied, as she looked up from his hands and they made eye contact for a second.

Fitz felt a wave of coolness flow through his body. It was relaxing, like a cool current in the water, or walking into central-air on a hot day. There was something there, in her eyes that managed to get him right in the gut. It was uncomfortable, and nearly physical. He took his already bandaged hand down off the counter and rubbed the back of it over the part that hurt – like it was actually a physical condition and something like that would help.

"So what're you up to going for a swim so late?" He felt a little awkward, and tried to make a little small talk – he was good with that, usually.

"I swim at night, it helps me clear my head so I can sleep," She said simply – and he nodded as she finished up his other hand, "You can take them off in the morning. The stuff only takes a few hours to set, then it stays in the cuts."

"Thanks," He said off handedly as she hopped off of her stool and he tried to give her a charming smile.

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Yeah, just remember the gloves in the morning," She said as she stashed the first aid kit back on top of the fridge, grabbed her stuff, went to the backdoor that led out onto the pool deck, "Good night, Fitz."

He went back upstairs and took a peek out the window. He watched her swimming down in the pool for a minute, realizing that there was a second, possibly a full minute, down in the kitchen when she wasn't absolutely disgusted with him. He smirked to himself as he watched her swim, and he had to admit that she was pretty impressive. He took a deep breath – went to run a hand through his hair, but stopped once he saw the mess of gauze she had wrapped around his hand. Even if it had been in a 'Poor stupid boy doesn't know how to take care of himself' begrudging way – she had cared enough to help him. Maybe she wasn't so far out of reach.

If her father found out he banged her – which assumed would happen pretty quickly if he did – he'd be on the first plane back to New York. He could spin that so it wasn't his fault, and he'd be back to what he was used to with no problems. He stopped his plan there. Right there, as he laid down in bed and stared at the ceiling. He didn't want to do that, she wasn't one of those nameless girls he plucked from a club. There was something different about her – but either way she was not the reason that he was there, the goal was to get through the summer with very little issue, and then return to exactly the way his life had been.

"Look who's out of his room. What happened to your hands?" 'Admiral' asked him the next morning – he was shaving getting ready to go out to the car when he walked in.

"Oh," Fitz said, as 'Admiral' set up shop in the next sink with his razor, "I just cut 'em up on the ropes yesterday. Olivia saw 'em put some shi- I mean stuff on them last night."

"Oh," He said, ignoring the half curse in the middle of Fitz's sentence, "You're lucky we had just the stuff for them. I tried to pick up sailing last summer – it didn't work out too well."

Fitz didn't respond as he took the gauze off and put it on the counter – then winced as he splashed the shaving cream off his face. There was a string of expletives that would have ordinarily ran right out of his mouth rather naturally that he had to keep in. He wasn't sure how far he could bend the rules with 'Admiral' yet, and wasn't really ready to try.

"I have a pair of gloves you should use today," He said, and Fitz nodded.

"She said something about those."

"You're welcome to them," He said with a little smile as Fitz got ready to leave the bathroom, "They're in the wooden chest by where you parked the truck yesterday."

Fitz nodded and the Admiral stood up straight, turning around at him as he walked out into the hall.

"Son, we don't have a maid," He said, and Fitz stopped.

"Oh, right," Fitz walked back into the bathroom and threw the bandages into the trash.

"Thank you."

"Mmhmm," He barely responded as he headed back into his room and threw on his work boots, t-shirt, and a pair of sunglasses.

No matter how many times he had washed his work clothes, they still smelled like fish. Judging by the lack of response from his father, and the truck – he wasn't getting his usual clothes allowance this summer. Therefore, he wasn't ruining any more of his clothes – he just washed them as often as possible. He could wear his other clothes after work and on the weekends.

"Are you going to be here for dinner tonight?" Mrs. Pope asked him as he hit the kitchen – he nodded.

She handed him what she called breakfast to-go, there was another one on the counter – he presumed for 'Admiral'. Olivia was sitting at the table eating a more put together breakfast with Maya – who slipped out of her chair and ran over to him – he took a deep breath as he bit into the little breakfast sandwich.

"Olivia and I are gonna go to the playground today," Maya said, "Then she's going to let me hang out with her and her friends."

"Have fun," He said disinterestedly, he wasn't good with kids – he had never really tried, but he figured he'd start when he had one coming – which was probably going to be never.

"Have a good day at work!" Maya called after him as he walked towards the door, and he paused, turned and smiled at her before he headed out to the garage.

He stopped when he saw the truck, as had been his custom all week. He closed his eyes for a second, then opened them again, yup same old beat up truck. So much for coming down here so that he wouldn't get cut off, this was just about the same idea. He took a deep breath and glanced around for the box 'Admiral' had mentioned. He walked around the truck, and it was below the window. He popped it open and it was filled with old baseball gloves, and couple of kites, a Wiffle-ball bat, and various other pieces of backyard sports equipment. He found the gloves that Olivia and her father had mentioned near the bottom underneath a kite, and threw them onto the bench seat of the truck.

He parked down at the marina a few minutes later, and walked down the pier with the gloves in his back pocket.

"Hey, _Grant_," said one of the other guys as he hopped onto the boat – and he froze.

He had made a deal with the captain that one of the other guys on the boat knew exactly who he was. They would just call him Fitz, and that was that. No one need to know he was the owner's son. He took a deep breath and turned around, taking the gloves out of his back pocket and slipped them on.

"What's up, Ahab?" He asked – hoping that Mike would get the reference.

"Smart kid," He smirked as he pulled a magazine out of his back pocket, and some of the other guys came to stand around, "Well see, I went to get my coffee this morning and I spotted this."

It was the GQ – Damn, he forgot that was coming out this week.

"What about it?" Fitz asked, he was very thankful for his sunglasses to hide his fear.

"You know, I was wondering why we were carrying such a light weight," He said, and one of the other guys nodded.

"I know some guys that could really use the job – and they'd do it better than you," said the other one – Fitz thought his name was David.

"What's the matter, daddy think you needed a little character building?" Mike continued – and Fitz took a deep breath, deciding it was best not to say anything.

"Good thing Fancy-Boy brought him some gloves today," Nick – a kid about nineteen who previously had been fairly friendly to him said.

"He won't need 'em. You're gutting the fishes today, kid," said John, who did the assignments, "Nick, show him how it's done, and then come back up on deck and help with the nets. I think a day down there might make him feel more at home here."

"Yes, sir," Nick said, slapping Fitz on the back as he led him down into the room just outside of the freezer, where no one bothered to clean up the fish guts, "You'll have the little ones helping you – the machines get the small bones out – you just have to slit them in two. There's a machine in the corner, you load 'em up, and you can do about a hundred at a time…careful not to catch anything in the blades though."

"Yeah."

"Tough break, them finding out," Nick said and he scurried back up to the main deck, "Don't worry we're not staffed enough for them to keep you down here more than a day."


	4. A Midnight Swim

American Prince

Chapter Four: A Midnight Swim

Other than when it was necessary to intervene, or rather when her conscious told her she couldn't just ignore him, Olivia pretty much stuck to her plan of dismissing Fitz's presence. Like the night she had seen his hands and had been unable to just leave him to his own devices. She felt bad for him, she did. He was sad, almost pathetic. He was spoiled, arrogant, cocky, and most upsettingly he didn't seem to have a problem with it either. It was like he had never seen any reason to develop past being a twelve year old boy, at least mentally. Physically – but her original thoughts of him were only reinforced every morning as he took his breakfast from her mother without so much as a thank-you. But he never really said thank-you for anything. Though, she was thankful that there was the small saving grace that he seemed to sense that she didn't like him. For the most part he steered clear of her, or as much as he could while they lived in the same house. He was a rich, snotty, asshole – but she couldn't tell if he knew it or not, and she wasn't sure which option was better.

She rolled out of bed the next Friday morning – a week after the kitchen incident - and went and took her shower before most of the rest of the house was really moving. The past week she had taken to sleeping in, and rolling out of bed for breakfast just before her dad and Fitz left. Fitz was up, she could hear him fumbling around in his room down the hall. She sighed as she got out of the shower and went back into room. She took her time getting dressed and double checking her assignment for the day, which was Bay Beach. Easy enough, it was right by the marina, but it was the beach she had grown up going to, except now it was mostly cluttered with Trash and some of the more unsavory things. Maya, for example, had grown up going to a different one – Goose Beach. She went across the hall and knocked to wake Maya up.

"C'mon, My," She called, "Time to get up and get dressed."

"Ok," Maya yawned, and Olivia waited in the doorway until she had gotten out of bed before heading back into her room to check her computer.

As she turned Fitz was walking out of the bathroom, fully dressed for work, and back into his room. She sat down on the end of her bed and pulled out her laptop to double check her Facebook, particularly where she and her friends were hanging out that night. Nate's. Then she went to the itinerary for the day. They would be picking up the beach until lunch, very carefully disinfecting, eating lunch, making quick trip to the tidal pools, and then taking the kids across the street to the city pool where their parents could pick them up. She texted this to her junior counselor, Beccah, and then looked up as Maya walked into her room.

"Liv."

"You ready to go?" Olivia said as she put her compute to the side and grabbed her supply bag with the camp logo on it from by her bed.

They went down to breakfast, where they both thanked their mom and sat down with her – Fitz and their father's breakfasts waiting on the counter for them.

"Hey, mom I'm not going to be here for dinner tonight," Olivia said, cutting into her eggs.

"Ok, big plans?" She asked.

"A bunch of us are just hanging out at Nate's," Olivia said casually, and her mother nodded.

"Well, be careful," She replied, and Olivia nodded.

"Always am."

After they finished up breakfast, Olivia and Maya were off to the marina. She had actually been pleasantly surprised the first day of camp when six kids (Including Maya) had shown up. This meant that she and Beccah had a full troop that they would be lugging around for the summer. Only one of them had asthma, which was a miracle – and Olivia carried his inhaler in her backpack. When they first got to the beach, they caught up with Beccah and set up a little camp – with a tent that the kids would later be able to eat their lunches under. As the kids arrived Olivia handed them each a pair of rubber gloves and a trash bag – as per usual, telling them that if they found anything pointy or sharp to call over her or Beccah to handle it. Then she grabbed herself a pair, and headed out to pick up some trash.

Probably the biggest problem with this beach was that the water dropped off pretty close to shore, and got cold. People didn't like to swim there, but it was perfect for the boats. Which was why, as she glanced out over the water she could spot quite a few of the fishing boats pretty close to shore. The fish came up to feed and to live, so it was a pretty easy fishing spot. It didn't take long before she had spotted Fitz up on the deck of one – hauling up part of a net that was cast on the side of the boat.

Damn. A wave lapped up just as he was hauling up his portion of the net (as awful as net-fishing was) and sprayed him in the face. She wasn't quite sure why, but there was just something about him as he was working that made him just look - good. That minute she looked away, going back to picking up trash and hoping that he was far away enough not realize that she had just been checking him out. That would be – well, not good. So she went back to helping pick the beach up, but when she looked up she couldn't help but notice Fitz. This wasn't good. The next time she looked at her watch, it was time for lunch.

"Ok, everybody," She said, "Your lunches are in the cooler – make sure you take off your gloves, throw them away, and wash your hands with Beccah, ok?"

She glanced back out over the water and noticed that Fitz's boat wasn't out there anymore. She wondered if they had gone out further because she could no longer see it as she went over to man the cooler. She made each one of them show her their hands before she handed them their lunches – and instructed them to sit under the tent while they ate. She took a bite of her sandwich, sitting just off the blanket in a patch of clean sand – watching the kids when Beccah choked on a bit of her sandwich.

"What?" Olivia asked her sixteen year old counterpart as she looked over her shoulder – and spotted Fitz walking towards them carrying a bucket, then almost silently, "Shit."

Shit. Had he seen her after all? She put her own lunch down on the edge of the blanket, careful to keep it safe from the sand, and hopped up. She met him just about halfway to the kids, and stopped him. He was slightly sweaty, and carrying a bucket in one hand – filled with water, and a small fish jumping around inside. The bridge of his nose was sunburnt and his cheeks were tinged red from being in the sun.

"What're you doing?" Olivia crossed her arms as she came up in front of him.

"We came in for lunch," He shrugged, then saw that she was looking down at the bucket, "Oh, this little guy's too little to try and gut. So I figured the kids might like to see him before I threw him back to grow up a little bit. Kids like fish, right? Especially like kids that volunteer to spend their summers cleaning up beaches and stuff?"

"They do," Olivia said, not amused by his teasing, "I thought you didn't get along with kids."

He shrugged as Maya appeared at her side.

"I just thought they might think it was cool," He replied, setting the bucket down lower so that Maya could peek in.

"Hey, Fitz," Maya said, "Where'd you get him."

"On the boat," Fitz replied as the rest of the kids, and a slightly light headed and ditzy version of Beccah joined them.

"Whoa, cool fish," said one of the kids, and Olivia rolled her eyes at Fitz – who smirked.

"See I was right," He told her boastfully and she just shook her head.

"So you work on the boats?" Beccah spoke up, and Fitz nodded.

"Yeah," He replied quickly and then turned back to Olivia.

"Shouldn't you be getting back on a boat or something?"

"Yes," He said, checking his watch, "I should."

He let the kids follow him to the water's edge were he picked up the poor little fish and threw it back into the water. Then, he tipped the bucket to get the water out and said goodbye to the kids.

"See you at home, Fitz," Maya called and Beccah, who had stayed on the beach with Olivia looked over at her, mouth agape.

"He's staying with you?"

"He's my dad's project for the summer," Olivia replied shortly, "His highness's parents sent him down because they didn't know what to do with him."

"Please tell me I can camp out at your house – all summer," Beccah said, the kids still trying to see the fish again, with strict orders not to go in, "He's gorgeous."

"No, and he's kinda an asshole," Olivia shook her head at Beccah before cupping her hands around her mouth, "C'mon, you guys have to come eat your lunches now."

Once the kids had finished their lunches and they brought them over for a quick look at the tide pools before bringing the kids over to the pool to go swimming. By about four in the afternoon all the kids had been picked up and Olivia was returning to her car to drive Maya home before heading off to meet up with her friends. She then spent most of the night with Abby and her other friend Lynn, attempting to avoid being thrown into the lake by any of the guys. Olivia wasn't usually one to be squeamish of things like that, but it was dark – and the lake was gross during the day, even if the guys insisted on swimming in it.

She got home around eleven, and went almost directly to the pool for her laps. She would have just forgotten about them for the night but she never could. She would try, and lay in bed staring at the ceiling until she finally went out and swam to kill off energy enough to go to bed for real. Due to her habit of swimming at night, shutting it off and putting on the solar cover became her responsibility to do before she left and went up to shower and go to bed.

She threw her towel onto one of the deck chairs as she walked out onto the pool deck – turning on the back spotlight as she passed the switch. She eased herself into the water was still warm from the day and she smiled to herself as she strapped on her goggles, and started her laps. She paused in the shallow end a few minutes in, taking off her goggles and taking a sip of her water – resting on the side as the back door opened. She put down her water and looked over to see who it was – but there was only one person it could really be.

"Mind if I join?" She heard Fitz say but couldn't see him until she heard a splash on the other end of the pool.

She spotted him in the water for a second before losing him again. Then, he popped up right in front of her – shaking his hair to get the water out before slipping it back with both hands. Olivia just couldn't bring herself to advert her gaze as the water ran right down off his face and his chest, down through the curves and lines in his abs. She was suddenly very aware of his body, and starting to understand Beccah's reaction to him, and Quinn wanting to hold onto the magazine that she had wanted to throw away.

"I think my hands are healed up enough to swim again, don't you?" He asked, showing her his palms in the near darkness.

"Again?" She checked, refusing to be rendered speechless.

"I've learned it's the best remedy for a hangover," He informed her as he let his hands fall back down into the water.

She was at eye level with his chest, how had she never realized how tall he was? Or how well defined his chest was? She looked up at him, and he smiled as their eyes locked.

"Really?" She feigned being impressed and he just kept smiling, "What?"

"Nothing," He replied, putting his hands up in false surrender, "You don't mind if I swim on the other side of the pool with you, do you? Or are you going to order me back inside?"

"Course not," She said and he nodded as he drifted off to the other side, "Just stay on your side."

"Will do."

Those were the only words they really exchanged with each other for the rest of the time they were in the water. But as she was finishing her workout she stopped, popping up out of the water, and taking off her goggles as she stood getting ready to get out. He popped up a few feet to her right, and she realized he was going without goggles – difficult, at night. She almost opened her mouth to comment, and then it hit her. The feeling she had been fighting for a while that made her want to jump across the water and into his arms – to kiss him. She dunked herself back into the water.

No, she couldn't. She couldn't let herself – he was Fitz. Fitzgerald Grant, he was everything that she had always hated in a guy personified – _Fuck_.

She got out of the pool and wrapped herself in a towel – she and went into the house. She did not pass go, she did not collect two hundred dollars on the straight and narrow path to her room. She dropped her pool towel, and hung up her bathing suit and headed for the shower – completely ignoring the big wall window that would have shown Fitz still swimming laps if she had let herself look.

She got under the stream of water in the shower, and closed her eyes as she spun under the water pressure. She reached over and grabbed her swim shampoo and lathered up. Her skin had already started to crawl from the chlorine. She shut her eyes as she let the water just run down her body and she saw him – in flashes. Standing in the shower with her – the water streaming down his body, his hair down in his face as he stepped towards her, the water dripping down out of the ridges in his abs…

She forced herself to open her eyes and chastised herself for her thoughts. He was an asshole, remember? God only knew where that body had been, it was best not to get involved, remember? Ignore him, he'll be gone at the end of the summer, and she'd be off in California. He wasn't what she wanted, but then she had to go back under the stream to rinse her hair out.

There he was, as soon as she closed her eyes there he was – but she was in his arms. The water was running over them, and she nuzzled her face into his chest as he let his hands slip down her body – then she snapped her eyes open again.

No. This was not be happening. She took a deep breath as she shut off the shower, and got into a pair of gym shorts and an old t-shirt. She didn't even want to think about what would happen if she tried going to bed, so she put her hair up quick and headed downstairs to numb herself up with some TV. She stashed herself away in the den, hugging a pillow as she reached for the remote and flipped it onto something stupid – anything to make her think of anything else. Just as she was getting into it she heard the last thing that she wanted to hear.

"Oh, there is someone still up," Fitz said walking casually into the room, his towel draped over his shoulders to that it mostly blocked out his bare chest.

"Yeah, still couldn't sleep," She mumbled just over the volume of the TV and he nodded.

"I was about to make a snack," He said, pointing over his shoulder towards the kitchen, "Popcorn. You want me to make enough for you?"

"Yeah, sure," She said, there went that plan if he was planning on joining her.

"Also, where is it?" He asked, and she chuckled.

"It's in the cabinet right next to the fridge," She told him, and he nodded as he backed back out of the room.

Was he being…thoughtful? Or as close to thoughtful as he was going to get in such a short period of time. She shook her head, and tried to clear her head. No, it couldn't be, and it really wouldn't help if he was. She tried to focus in on the senselessness that was going on on the TV in front of her. A couple of minutes later he came back into the room with two bags of popcorn.

"I don't know about you, but I just don't think there's enough in one of these to share," He said as he handed her one, then set down his towel on the ground and sat, "Don't worry – I heard your mom yelling at Maya earlier for sitting on the couch after she was in the pool. So what're you watching?"

She was shocked as he sat down on the ground, ripping open his bag of popcorn and starting to eat it slowly.

"Ah, I'm not sure," She replied, and he laughed.

Maybe he wasn't so bad.

* * *

A/N: Hey guys so if you all are as in love with this Olitz as I am, I'm praying you guys don't hunt and kill me later on :) I hope you enjoyed the chapter… Fitz not wanting to stay on the boat for lunch… him trying to be nice to Olivia…. Yeah It's gonna escalate quickly ;) Until next time loves!


	5. Stranded on an Alien Planet

A/N: Hello…so clearly I'm getting into the habit of writing a chapter of each a day –I should clock my typing speed though…Well, enjoy :)

American Prince

Chapter Five: Stranded on an Alien Planet

The one thing that seemed to be working in Fitz's favor on the fishing boat was that it didn't run on Saturday or Sunday. This meant from the second he walked off the pier to the time he woke up on Monday morning he was free – and it wasn't as if the Pope's really bothered him much other than when he allowed it. The first couple weekends he had slept until two or three in the afternoon before he eventually poked his head out, and no one was home so he went outside for a while. He felt a little like a prisoner, but even that was starting to get old. He wasn't partying – he didn't know anyone – and at this point he wasn't sure he even wanted too. Besides, he still hadn't completely made out exactly how bad the Admiral could be. So what was the point really of sleeping in so late? He was asleep by one or two.

However, this Saturday morning was a little bit different seeing as he had been ripped from a dream version, an alternate ending of the night before when he and Olivia had been watching TV. And even as he woke up he was still trying to convince himself that whatever had happened the night before had actually happened. The way she had been looking at him in the pool, the way their eyes had locked – achieving that cooling peace in him again - and the way she had been so kind to him while they watched TV together. He was sure that they had been a particularly cruel part of his dream. So he got up and showered and got down to the kitchen to find something for breakfast by ten. Mrs. Pope looked as if she had seen a ghost as he walked in, dressed in cargo shorts and a white button up. It seemed to take her a minute to process what was happening, but then she smiled at him as he took to looking into the cabinets for something to eat.

"I got you those Eggos you said you liked," She told him, "They're in the freezer."

"What?" He asked, surprised, and she opened it up and handed him the box.

"You mentioned you liked them the other day, so I grabbed you a box while I was at the store," She said as he looked down at the yellow box.

"Wow, thanks," He said, unsure that anyone had done something nice like that for him on a basic level before, and she smiled.

"Just hide them from Maya," She said, and he chuckled.

"Why?" He asked,

"If she sees them she'll eat them all on you," She smiled, "And it's no problem, Fitz. I want you to feel at home here – I know we've already told you whatever you find in food or anything is up for grabs – but if you're going to be poking your head out of your room on the weekends know that goes for everything else, too. I don't know what you like to do for fun, but there's all sorts of sports equipment in the garage – bikes, tennis rackets – what's ours is yours."

"Ok," He said as he just sort of didn't know what to do.

"Eat up," She told him, pointing over at the toaster, "Before Maya's finished her movie in the den and comes out to find something to do."

Fitz took her advice, and popped a couple into the toaster before going back and hiding the box in the back of the freezer. She went into the other room to fold the laundry that had previously been thrown unceremoniously into the basket that was resting on the counter, and he wondered to himself where Olivia was. He knew he couldn't exactly ask – just like he couldn't ask when she wasn't there for dinner the night before. Though, Maya had done the honors for him – but there was no Maya to ask his curious question for him. He wondered if she was around the house somewhere – this being the first time he really was outside of his room on a weekend, so he had no idea of anyone's routines on the weekends other than meals.

He wandered a little through the house as he waited for the little waffles to pop up, and walked by the den cautiously. Maya was sitting on the couch eating something that looked like it had once been a breakfast watching Toy Story – for what must have been the hundred-thousandth time. He stood there and watched as Buzz Light-year displayed his impressive wingspan to the other toys – then kept walking. He just about toured the whole house looking to see if he could catch a glimpse of her before heading back to the kitchen and retrieving his waffles from the toaster. He then went to work making his usual sandwich with butter and the tiniest bit of syrup in the middle.

"She hikes on Saturday mornings," Mrs. Pope said as she came back into the kitchen, where he was finishing off his preferred breakfast sandwich.

"What?"

"Olivia," She said, "You were just looking for her, weren't you? We don't usually expect her back until around two."

"What? I wasn't –"

"It's not like it's a sign of weakness, you know," She told him, "Wanting a little bit of human interaction. I told her she should let you hang out with her friends. They're a good group of kids – and they're all different ages, Nate just turned twenty-two now…"

Yeah, a _little_ bit of human interaction, that was what he wanted. No, he couldn't. He didn't want that. He wasn't sure what he wanted – but the fact that he had been unable to find her had been upsetting to him. He opened his mouth to respond, but she was already off down the hall once his brain was functioning enough to actually try and figure out how to respond. So instead he threw the last bit of his Eggo sandwich into his mouth and headed out to the garage.

He stopped in the middle of the mostly vacant garage and took in the eye-sore that was the truck he had been driving around. This had been yet another reason he had decided to get out of bed before it was too late to do anything. Something just simply had to be done about the poor little piece of crap. He spun the keys around his finger and then pulled it out of the garage and parked in the driveway. He wasn't sure how he was going to do it – but he was going to fix it up. He couldn't be driving something like this around – It was a matter of personal pride. He hopped out of the car as 'Admiral' pulled up into the driveway.

"Fitz, what're you up to?" He asked as he got out – a bag from the grocery store around his wrist as Fitz approached him cautiously.

"I actually wanted to talk to you," Fitz said, and the Admiral raised his eyebrows, he seemed to still be getting over the shock of seeing Fitz up and around.

"What's going on"

"Well, it's your truck," Fitz said cautiously, he wasn't used to asking for permission, "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind if I started working on it – like a weekend project."

"I don't see why we can't work something out," He replied, "Do you know anything about fixing 'em up? Or is it just something you're interested in learning?"

"I did it as a hobby over the summer all through high school – I'd kinda just like to see if I could fix it up little bit," Fitz told him, "Before I could actually drive them.."

Fitz knew that he didn't have to finish his sentence because the 'Admiral' could fill in the blanks. Because he was bored to death during the day until he could drive, and then he had started getting 'more important' things to do. He seemed to study Fitz up and down for a minute before saying anything, and Fitz couldn't help but shift awkwardly. For one extraordinarily uncomfortable moment Fitz thought maybe he had an idea of what Fitz was thinking about in the back of his head – which would have been really awkward. Mostly because it involved him and the man's daughter in a particularly compromising situation that he was sure 'Admiral' would not appreciate.

"I don't see a problem with it," He told Fitz, "Go nuts, just remember that whatever shape it's in on Monday you still have to drive it to work."

"I will," Fitz replied, and the 'Admiral' walked away as Fitz headed back over to the truck.

He peeled off his button up and stuck it in the front seat so he would only get his undershirt if he started getting messy. He nearly threw the door shut, and walked back around to the hood – popping it open to get a look at what he was dealing with. He would have to reteach himself a lot of the stuff – but just by looking at it he understood why it was having so much trouble during the week. The sparkplugs were all shot, and he could see about a million other little things that he knew how to fix. He would start with the oil and the spark plugs though. Anything else would have to include him ordering new parts for it. And he knew he would eventually – but there was only so much time he wanted to spend on it that day.

There was one thing about his 'car fixing up' days that he had chosen not to tell the 'Admiral' was that he had only really done is the summer before he went to high school – when he was thirteen. This was because, bored as he was he bought cars new right off the factory line, and deconstructed them. He would completely take them apart and then replace some of the parts with compatible ones that he had found in a catalog that would cause the cars to be able to hit upwards of two hundred miles per hour. Then, his friends and him would race them – never actually daring to go all that high – on a back road behind his house that was dirt. They were originally planning on putting a subdivision back there – but as soon as they cleared the road and brought in the cement trucks, his father mysteriously just had to buy the land. The cement trucks had been sent home before they had actually put anything down. Their little drag racing club had been put to rest when his mother had found out exactly what they were doing back there with the cars – only it had taken her almost until the end of August. What had they thought he was doing out in the garage for that long? He knew the answer, they didn't care.

That was the point where his father had his IQ tested, professionally. He had brought Fitz to a room full of old, really intelligent people and ran him through tests for nearly a full twelve hours. They had him do tests like taking things together and putting them back together within a time limit of a couple minutes – all really easy after a couple summers of taking apart and putting back together foreign cars. Then there had been a written part with questions that if he didn't know the answer, he could easily eliminate the other ones – though he had only not known a couple of them. He had ended up scoring above average, high above average – a 185 to be specific. And his father had been disappointed in him ever since. Disappointed that he would use just a high intelligence playing around with cars, and disappointed from then on when he never really did anything with his life. But honestly, what was the point in trying?

He got back from the auto parts store around one and immediately went to work putting on the new sparkplugs. He took a break after putting all the new ones on – in about 105 degree weather - and then was called in for lunch. He stood in front of the kitchen sink trying to get the grease off with the dish soap – because that always worked best, then he wiped the sweat off his face and the back of his neck with a wet paper towel. He threw it away and looked down to realize that his t-shirt was covered in a mixture of grease and sweat. He felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Fitz, I'm glad you're doing something productive," Mrs. Pope said, handing him a turkey sandwich on a plate – potato chips on the side, "But when you come in, you wash up in the bathroom – not the kitchen."

"Ok," He said, mouth half-full of turkey sandwich as he went and sat down at the table with 'Admiral' and Maya – Mrs. Pope followed pretty closely behind him.

"So how's it looking?" 'Admiral' asked as he sat down.

Fitz shrugged.

"Not exactly what you remember working on?" He guessed and Fitz shrugged – swallowing before he spoke.

"Not really."

"What were you working on? Old cars?"

"Um," He said then decided to just tell him, "Ferrari's mostly, one Ford Mustang – for a little variety. Helps out now with Ford a lot of the set up it the same."

"Ferrari's?"

"Oh, and one Lamborghini," Fitz replied – and looking back on it that's probably why they had given him a Mercedes when he turned sixteen, "I'd just take them apart and put them back together."

"How old were you when you were doing this?" 'Admiral' asked and Fitz shrugged.

"Thirteen, fourteen."

He finished up lunch and then went back out to the truck to change up the oil. He had, admittedly, gone for the easy fixes, but he needed to do something that day. When he had gone to the auto store he had ordered a couple of things, he would call his father and give him a heads up what he was doing the next morning – that was if he would really notice a couple hundred coming in on his credit card bill – which he assumed he wouldn't. It all automatically came out of the family accounts anyways. He had ordered a new transmission – and a slightly used engine. It would be more fun and time consuming to take apart the engines and match up the working pieces vs. the broken ones. He had paid extra to have them in sooner. After that, he would be working on the body, replacing the parts where it was rusted, and he'd probably have to have it painted – he wasn't really good with that stuff.

He was just putting down the hood as Olivia's car pulled in the driveway. He tried to contemplate whether or not to let Olivia know that he intended to let her see him finishing up working on it. A quick decision based on the look on her face as she got out of her car told him that it would be a bad idea. He sort of felt like it had been a bad idea anyways – what was he doing?

"What happened to you?" She asked, shutting the door and crossing her arms, leaning against her car.

His thought process was almost completely derailed as soon as she had gotten out of the car. His panicking inward voice had slowed down – gone silent. She was standing there, with her arms crossed, fresh from wherever she had been hiking and she was literally stealing the air right out of his lungs. The way she was looking at him had changed, as far as he could tell there wasn't any disgust, there wasn't any overt dislike in her facial features. He smiled, he liked that.

"I'm much more concerned with what happened to you," He replied sarcastically, and when he could see that wasn't going to work, "I found a weekend project in the Truck – just fixing a few things that need updating."

"And you know how to do that?" She seemed surprised, and he nodded as he ran his hand against the back of his neck, "I went on a hike, with a friend."

"Is there good hiking around here?" He asked casually and she nodded.

"We go up the same trail all the time, it's pretty," She replied, and he nodded, "Well, I better go get cleaned up."

"Yeah, me too," He said, and he followed her into the house.

He left his boots in the garage, and went up to the bathroom that he shared with the 'Admiral' and Mrs. Pope, nicking the dish soap as he went. He washed up enough then realized that it was about a million degrees out – and opted out of the shower just yet. He washed up with a cool cloth, then went and changed into his bathing suit. He grabbed a different one than the one he had worn the night before, he threw on a pair of sunglasses on his way out of his room – a towel from the hall closet, and then he was walking back into the kitchen en route to the back patio. He spotted a not on the kitchen table and picked it up momentarily – it was just saying that they had brought Maya for ice cream.

He dropped it back down on the table and walked back out into the sun. He put his towel and sunglasses in a chair, then jumped right into the deep end. He then very quickly swam to the other side, and hopped out. He got himself situated into a chair – attempting to get rid of his t-shirt tan from being on the boat. He was just about to close his eyes when Olivia stepped out of the door – in a different bathing suit than he was used to – a bikini, white. He very quickly found himself very happy with the fully tinted sunglasses that he had chosen to wear.

"Great minds think alike," She said simply, slipping on her sunglasses, she was carrying a book as she sat down in the chair nearest him, she looked over at him, then started to chuckle.

"You don't have a t-shirt tan," He commented, "At least not one that's really visible."

"I can still enjoy the sun," She quipped back, then smirked, "You look like a lobster that they forgot to cook the belly of. You have to hate that farmer's tan, huh pretty-boy?"

She was still teasing, but there was definitely a different kind of ring to it.

"Fishermen's tan," He corrected her in mock defiance.

"You know, you're not nearly the asshole that you seem to default to," She commented, and he held up a finger to his lips.

"Shh, you'll give away my secret," He replied sarcastically, "And watch your mouth – no cursing, remember?"

"Please," Olivia said, "They are not here, what they don't know won't hurt them."

"Is that a motto you go by often?"

"Not really," She replied, an innocent sort of expression coming across her beautiful features, "Sometimes I just wish that they hadn't waited ten years to have another kid. When I was like fifteen I used to wait until they all left so I could just scream 'Fuck' at the top of my lungs, in the middle of the kitchen."

"You rebel," He replied – too serious, on purpose - he couldn't remember when the last time he was genuinely smiling this much before as he started laughing.

"Well since I'm talking to the expert…"

"You don't want to know," He replied, dropping any sort of false confidence.

"Not so proud of it?" She quirked one eye brow.

God she was perfect, but that wasn't quite it – he shook his head. She had to be feeling a little bit of what he was feeling.

"So does this mean that you're going to quit hiding out in your room?" She asked, letting that stand as his answer.

"I guess," He replied, "I can only hide out so long before I get cabin fever. How about you? Are you going to officially verify that I exist?"

"I wouldn't think you needed that verification," She replied, and he smiled, "But yes, I'm sorry, that was rude of me..."

So the night before did happen, minus his alternate dream ending.

"C'mon, Liv," He replied, putting his head back down on the rest of the chair and closing his eyes, "We both know I had that coming – but thanks for serving as my rudeness karma."


	6. Taking A Trip

American Prince

Chapter Six: Taking a Trip

Olivia stood in the kitchen Sunday morning, much earlier than she would have ever actually been up on Sunday if it weren't for the past two nights. Especially since her parents had stopped making her go to church with them two years ago – which was where they were with Maya. She took a sip of her orange juice as she played with her bikini strap to make sure it was really hidden beneath her t-shirt and not popping out of the neckline. Her beach bag was in the corner filled with her crap, and a little cooler with her lunch in it was beneath that. Eagle Point, that's what her and her friends had named their little cove that they had found almost five years ago. It was where they always went to waste a day. But she had the feeling she would be sleeping on the beach most of the day, because she was exhausted. She had woken up at four – and had spent the next three hours trying to get back to sleep.

"Good morning," The reason for her sleepless nights said as he walked into the kitchen – and his gravely 'just woke up' voice was not helping her digest her cereal.

He was wearing dark basketball shorts and a gray t-shirt that just had to fit him so perfectly. From the state his hair was in, she thought it was extremely safe to say that he had just rolled out of bed. The way he was rubbing his eyes she wondered slightly how he hadn't fallen on his way down the stairs. It was adorable, like he was a baby puppy fighting to wake up in a YouTube video. He yawned and ran his hand down the side of his face sleepily. She couldn't help but smile as dragged her spoon around in her cereal. She really had to shut this down, immediately. There was no way that she was going to let this happen – it was wrong, on so many levels.

"Morning," She said as he went over to the freezer, then popped two little frozen waffles into the toaster, and sat down across the table from her.

"How long have you been up?" He asked, his eyes still nearly closed as she got up and poured him some of the coffee that was still in the bottom of the pot, "Thanks."

"A couple hours," She replied, sitting back down as he took a sip of the coffee, "I haven't been sleeping well."

"Me either," He replied, draining the rest of the cup of coffee before getting up to retrieve his waffles – he put them together like a sandwich and sat back down.

"What're you doing today," She asked, fidgeting with the end of her spoon and he shrugged.

"I guess just resting up for tomorrow, why?" He asked and she shrugged awkwardly – he narrowed his gaze and she was suddenly hyper-aware that he was trying to read her.

"I'm headed to the beach to meet up with friends," She replied, "We're kind of a weird group – most of the guys are around your age, you might have fun."

"It beats hanging around here?" He checked, and Olivia nodded – he smiled at her kindly, "Ok."

He threw the last bit of his breakfast into his mouth.

"Ok."

"Let me just go and get ready," He said as he stood up and stretched.

"I'll throw some more food in the cooler for you," Olivia replied, and he tried to catch her eyes as he backed out of the kitchen – but she wouldn't allow it.

She knew that there just wasn't something right about what she was doing, but she threw more of what she had packed herself for lunch into the cooler for him. She wasn't sure what she could really do about it. She hated to see him wandering around the house without some friends – and it wasn't like there was really a connection between the two of them. It was just in her head, the product of a guy who looked like Fitz did being under the same roof. One that was just a little bit nicer to her than he was to everyone else. It didn't mean that he was actually a good guy or anything – it was just a trap that many a girl would fall right into. It wasn't for her. She would have her little half crush on him, and then she would be done with it. The sun was getting to her head. She scribbled out a note to her parents letting them know she took Fitz with her.

"So, your car or the truck?" He asked as he returned to the kitchen, swim shorts on, different t-shirt, fresh from the shower, with a backpack slung over his shoulder.

"Ah, I'll drive," She said, going over and getting her bag – but he nabbed the cooler before she could.

"What, you don't want to show up in style?" He chuckled in mock surprise as he followed her out of the house.

"No," She said simply, and he smiled as he helped her load up the trunk.

"We need chairs or anything?" He asked, gesturing over his shoulder to the garage – where he must have seen beach chairs and things.

"Do you want one? They'll have blankets and stuff already out." She told him, then couldn't resist adding in a tease, "I'd hate to subject you to sitting on the sand if you're not used to it, though."

"I probably deserved that one," He replied, shutting the trunk, and they walked around and hopped into the car, "This is a lot nicer than the truck…"

"It is," She replied, backing out of the driveway, "It was mom's old car – I got it after about a year with the truck."

"Oh, so it's offered to everyone?" He said and she nodded.

"It is," She replied, "And with you fixing it up it might last until Maya's ready to drive."

"Maybe I should stop then, save her some pain," He replied, and she laughed as she took a turn out of the development.

"By then I'll hopefully she can be passed this thing," Olivia replied, "Or more likely mom's SUV that she has now. So you like cars, how stereotypical of you. I know I'm going to regret asking this, but what do you drive back home?"

"Ah, depends," He replied, blushing slightly, but she didn't let up as he looked over at him, "Mostly sports cars – anything fast."

"Like?"

"Mostly when I'm in New York it's the Porsche or the Ferrari," He said, "In Boston most of the year it's a Mercedes – too cold and nasty for anything too pretty until summer."

"But you have more?"

"Not as many as I used to," He replied, as if that somehow made it better that he had more than one fancy foreign car.

Though, Olivia was having a hard time holding it against him like she so wanted to – because all she could picture was him behind the wheel of one of the cars he had mentioned. His sunglasses were on, one of many in his collection, but the dark ones that he had worn the day before, then ones he had hanging from the neckline of his shirt as they drove. She had to fight herself to keep her eyes on the road – and not look over at him. The car went silent for a minute, and when she thought herself brave enough she glanced over at him in the mirror. She was not sure on how to feel as she realized that he was watching her, a somewhat dazed look on his face. SHUT IT DOWN. She had more reason now than ever as she pulled into the beach parking lot.

"Shit." He breathed, faintly.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Well, I'm sure you'll have the truck up to par soon," She said as they got out of the car – walking around to the trunk.

"I could," He replied as she popped it open, and he grabbed his bag, "But I don't think 'Admiral' would approve."

He picked the cooler up as she threw her bag over her shoulder. She was about to say something back as she closed the trunk, but was cut off as a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her tight, pressing her into the trunk of her car. She didn't have time to really react before she felt warm lips on her cheek and she stumbled, but the arms caught her. She tried to stabilize herself, and tried not to look over at Fitz.

"There you are, Liv," She heard Nate's soft voice as he straightened up and let go of her, "And you brought the house-guest."

"Yeah," Olivia said, having no choice but to look over at Fitz.

He looked pale, and a little like someone had sucker punched him in the gut – someone like her. He seemed to be recovering from the initial shock, and starting to cover it up. She was glad she hadn't seen his face when Nate had first run up to her. She felt as if she should look away, like she was intruding, and she should leave him alone. She adverted her gaze It was weird, having them both in the same area, and she really didn't know what to do.

She looked up and over at Nate. He was already down to his bathing suit, his pale Irish skin covered in freckles, and his red hair wet, like he had just come out of the water. He was everything she had wanted, right? Smart, driven, successful and all the time she was growing up he had been the only boy that had her attention. He was Abby – her best friend's older brother, the one she had giggled about at sleepovers. Nate smiled awkwardly, then looked over at Fitz, offering his hand for Fitz to shake. Fitz looked as if that was the last thing that he wanted to do, but he did it anyways.

"You'll have to excuse Liv, she forgets her manners sometimes," Nate sent her a teasing smirk as Fitz dropped his hand, Nate didn't seem to realize how quickly, "Nate, and you must be Fitz."

"Nate's my…" Olivia started but broke off.

"Boyfriend," Fitz finished for her, she nodded.

"C'mon, everyone's down in the cove," Nate said, and he ran off to catch up with Mack and Cory, who had apparently been walking with.

"The cove?" Fitz asked incredulously as Olivia started to led him over to the path that the three guys were chasing each other down.

"Yeah, we found it a few summers ago," She replied, "It's cut off from the rest of the beach – sort of private."

"Oh," Fitz replied as their usual beach site came into view.

They were blocked in on three sides by rock, and in the middle of the little patch of sand were four kind sized bed sheets that were ordinarily folded up in the back of Nate's Jeep. Abby and Lynn were already laying out in the sun. Fitz put the cooler down next to the other ones as Olivia spotted Bridget playing Frisbee with Paul a little further in.

"Liv! You're late!" Paul hollered, "Nathaniel! You lied to us."

"Shut up, Paul," Nate called back as he went over and stole the Frisbee midflight.

Fitz raised an eyebrow, and Olivia tried not to notice as she stripped down to her bathing suit, and threw her clothes on top of her bag. She tried to at least pretend to be focused on something else while he did the same, and then she looked over at him. He had a strange expression she hadn't really seen before on his face, and she frowned a little bit.

"Everything ok?" She asked, and he nodded – putting on a smile, but not his usual one.

"Yeah," He said, taking a deep breath.

"Liv!" Her head popped up and over as she heard Nate calling for her, "Babe, can you grab me a Corona?"

Abby rolled her eyes – which did not go unnoticed by Olivia, she didn't respond though.

"There's beer here?" Fitz asked, and Olivia chuckled as she led him over towards the bigger cooler.

"Here," She said, handing him one, then running over and handing the other one to Nate.

"Thanks, babe," He said, leaning over and kissing the side of her head before jumping up and catching the Frisbee.

"Hey, could you guys like include Fitz?" She said quietly, and Nate nodded.

"Hey, Fitz!" He called as Olivia walked back towards the sheet, "You know how to throw a Frisbee, right?"

"Ah, yeah," Fitz replied, and went over to join as Olivia sat down amongst the girls.

They had sat up in her getting there, and Abby was shaking her head.

"You realize you can tell him he can get his own damn beers," Abby said, and Olivia shrugged.

"It's fine."

"Let's get to the more important topic," Lynn said, looking over, and causing Olivia to look over just as Fitz was reaching up and catching a pass from Paul.

"What are you doing with my brother when _that_ is living in your house for the summer?" Abby asked, and Olivia rolled her eyes.

"And apparently following you around like an adorable lost puppy?" Lynn added.

"He's not a lost puppy," Olivia replied, "And I love Nate."

"You've been together for a little over a year, and for nine months of it we were at school," Abby pointed out, and Olivia rolled her eyes, "And you're going off to California in the fall…"

Abby had never been too fond of the idea of her dating her older brother. The rest of the day went by without too much discussion of much else. Fitz seemed to be forcing himself to fit in with Paul and Mack, who were mechanics. It would work out nice if Fitz could manage to use his newfound human social skills to attract some friends for the summer. At least that way he would have little more to fall back on besides her, and maybe then she wouldn't feel obligated to spend too much more time with him. That would help.

She was watching him as he ate his sandwich, laughing socially at something Mack had said. She was leaning back against Nate, and he craned his neck to plant a kiss on her cheek.

"Everything ok, baby?" He asked softly, offering her a sip of his drink.

"Yeah, just making sure Fitz is getting along ok," She lied, breaking her gaze over at Fitz and looking up at Nate – taking a sip.

"He's not your project, Liv," Nate reminded her kindly, wiping some of her hair from her forehead, "He's your dad's."

"I know," She replied, and Nate nodded, to the point where he was hanging his head.

"But you're still going to worry about him."

"Would you expect anything different?"

"Nope," He replied, taking his drink back and stealing a kiss.

Normally, and by normally, she meant the last time Nate had come to visit her at school his kisses had left her – happy. They even made her heart flutter a little bit – but ever since she had gotten back from school they had just felt wrong. This was almost to the point where she avoided them as much as she could. Her heart plummeted and her whole inside seemed dirty. It just all felt so wrong – and she couldn't figure out why. Nothing had changed between the two of them. It wasn't like he had started to neglect her, or something. But this one in particular, there was just nothing right about it. He didn't seem to notice.

"Hey," He popped up and she almost fell over, "Mack, wanna test out that new surf board?"

"Sure," Mack got up.

"Oh, I've got to see this," Bridget said as she got up – and Paul followed, Cory got up to go too as the rest of them headed down the beach towards the water.

"Fitz, you comin'?" Cory asked, and Fitz shook his head as he took another sip of his second beer.

"Naw, I'm ok," He said, and Cory took off after all the other guys, "Surfing was never really my thing."

The guys were all splashing around in the shallows of the ocean, trying to figure out how to actually get up on the surfboard Mack had gotten not too long ago. The four left up on the beach watched for a little while, then Olivia laid back, the sun and food making her just sleepy enough to fall asleep for a little while. When she woke up, Fitz was laying about a foot to her right, and the girls had gotten up, and were playing horseshoes with the guys. Nate was on her left, having just given up on surfing, she could see the beads of water on his chest. He had laced his hand in hers, she pulled it away and walked over to check the time on her phone – which was in her shorts.

"Shit," Olivia said.

"What's up?" Fitz asked her – his eyes flying open as he sat up.

"It's almost three, we have to get going," She replied, and he nodded, "I'm supposed to be home to watch Maya at four."

"Ok," He got up and had most of their stuff packed before she had even shimmied back into her shorts and t-shirt.

She said goodbye to everyone, saving the sleeping Nate for last – Fitz started heading off to put the stuff in the car. She knelt down on the sheet next to where he was laying and woke him up carefully, he sat up slowly, and it took him a minute to come around to what was going on.

"I have to get going," She told him, and he nodded.

"Bye, Babe," He replied, leaning in and pecking her lips before laying back down.

She had given Fitz the keys to the car, and he had it all packed up and was sitting in the driver's seat by the time that she got there. She smiled for about a half a second, he had one arm and his head out the window – having been watching for her.

"No," She told him, "Get your ass into the passenger's seat, Fitz."

"Oh, c'mon," He said, with a dry smile, "Let me drive back."

"Fine," She replied, throwing her bag into the back seat and then climbing in on the passenger's side.

"Thanks for inviting me along," He said as he pulled out of the parking lot, "It was a lot of – fun."

"Good," She replied, and he nodded as he pulled out onto the street.

"So how long have you and Nate been a thing?" He asked casually.

"About a year," She replied, and he nodded.

"He seems like a nice guy," He replied, but something told Olivia that wasn't quite what he meant.

"Thanks," She replied.

And then there was silence, no witty banter – nothing. Olivia just sat there in the front seat, forcing herself to look out the front windshield as Fitz drove them back home. They got there just in time for enough leeway time that her parents didn't realize that she had nearly forgotten. She started up a game of Monopoly with Maya, to distract her while their parents headed out to dinner. Fitz announced he was going to bed shortly after they left, and thanked her again for inviting him along.

"What's up with Fitz?" Maya asked, as soon as he had left the den where they were playing.

"I don't know," Olivia told her as she rolled the dice.

"I don't know, he just seems off," Maya replied – and Olivia nodded in agreement as she moved the car around the corner and passed 'go'.

"Your roll."

* * *

A/N: *Slowly crawls out from behind a shield*… don't hate me (I did update this twice today, ok I'm addicted to this one) - -and for the record I did hint at something like this… Nate has been mentioned…So, hoop #1. Also, I really wish some of my guest reviewers had names, so that I could reply to some of their reviews… because some of them really make me smile (On WYT too)…. Hope you enjoyed the chapter (for the most part).


	7. To Be Human

A/N: So, that wasn't entirely what I was expecting last night… but it made my little Olitz shipper heart very happy :) Enjoy the chapter….

American Prince

Chapter Eight: To Be Human

He was in love with her, and he wasn't even sure what that meant, but mostly it just felt like he had been shot in the gut. He grabbed the ropes of the net that they were using that morning, and pulled up on it, getting most of it up out of the water before anyone else had even come to help him. How could he have been so stupid? Of course she had a boyfriend. He grabbed lower on the rope, not caring how much his hands were burning, even with the gloves on. If anything it was distracting him, except it wasn't. It was like no feeling he had ever felt before, and it was so intense he wasn't even sure what to do about it. However, the ropes and throwing himself into the fishing stuff because compared to everything else, the feeling in his hands was almost pleasurable.

"Easy, kid," said Mike as he rushed over, "You're going to get yourself pulled overboard, and then we're going to have to fish _you_ out."

"What's up with Richie?" John asked, as Fitz took a step back from the net.

"What the matter, Daddy didn't send you your allowance yet this week?" said one of the other guys, and Fitz just stayed silent – it was easier not to fight back, he had learned that.

"Better not hurt yourself, Mommy and Daddy might think it's our fault."

They went off on him for another couple minutes, then decided that it was time to go in for lunch. He couldn't get off the boat quick enough, and he went right down the pier to this little diner he had found shortly after he realized Olivia wasn't going to be on the beach every day. He didn't even look down at his hands until he sat down in his usual booth for lunch – they were rubbed raw, but they weren't as bad as they had been after that first week. He took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. What was this agony? And when would it go away? He knew he shouldn't be thinking about her – but he couldn't stop. She had a boyfriend. He hardly paid her any attention and ordered her around like she was somehow less than he was, and Fitz had wanted to take his head off. Olivia seemed oblivious to it, which he realized only made it sadder.

It wasn't as if he was completely new to the idea of competition, he had ousted many a boyfriend just for a simple one night stand. But he didn't want that, he had been at a loss for what he really wanted until they were driving on the way to the beach. It was just something about her while they were driving, and he had been watching her. He realized that he without question loved everything about her, at least what he had known about her. The way that she had been speaking to him, the way that the sun was hitting the side of her face, and the way that her hair was just so perfect, topped off with the way that she didn't give a crap. Then there was that adorable way the edges of her mouth started to rise just a little bit when she thought something was funny – but apparently too inappropriate to laugh at. She wasn't impressed by him, but she liked him. He had no idea to what extent it was, but she did, and she apparently liked him for him. Which was strange, but it was nice. She was rephreshing, and he was killing himself trying to stop loving her.

He took a deep breath as the usual waitress – Kelly – delivered him his soda, with his sandwich.

"Are you ok?" She asked, setting it down in front of him, "You look sad."

"I'm fine," He told her with a little smile, taking a bite of the sandwich, "Thanks."

So, no he wasn't new to the idea and conventions of competition, but he didn't want it to be that way. He didn't want to have to fight for her, and he didn't want to put her through that. If she was happy with this Nate character, and he wasn't sure how that was possible, but she appeared to be – he wasn't going to screw that up for her. He was her best friend's brother, Fitz was the interloper, and what if something happened and it screwed with all her friendships? No. Besides, who was he to say that Nate didn't deserve Olivia? I mean, sure it was true – but who did? No one, certainly not him. Not after how he had chosen to live his life in the past five or six years. He just wanted her. He didn't care about anything else, and he wanted the whole deal. He wanted dinners, dancing, romantic walks, all the romantic crap that he had never seen the point in doing before – she was worth it. Maybe if he did those things he would be only that much closer to deserving her. But it didn't matter, she was with Nate. She had been with Nate for a while.

"Fitz! Fitz!" Maya was drawing with chalk in the driveway when he got back to the Pope's that afternoon.

She was calling him as he drove past her, so he parked the truck in the garage then walked out to where she was sitting. She was in the middle of a mess of colors – chalk dust all over her clothes, and she even had a little on her face. He smiled as he crouched down. She really wasn't all that bad – none of the Pope's were. He was getting used to them, and he was actually really liking them. And as much as he wanted to hate Olivia for how he was feeling, he couldn't. It just wasn't there – the only thing that he could really hold her to was not having told him that she had a boyfriend, but that wasn't really anything. He couldn't have expected her to announce to him that she had one – apparently he had been misreading the signs all along.

"What's up, My?" He asked as he glanced over her pictures.

"I was just drawing," She replied, and he gave her a little smile, "Look I drew us all."

He looked over to where she was now pointing, where she had drawn near stick figures of the whole family – and him on the end. He smiled kindly, then stood up and headed into the house – he was a little touched that she would put him right in with the family – he had been placed between Mrs. Pope and Olivia, like Maya was simply placing him in the order of the family. He was smiling slightly as he walked into the house, having left his ocean and fish soaked boots in the garage, heading upstairs for his shower.

He froze when he saw that Olivia was sitting in the kitchen, reading. He paused there for a second – purely for the fact that he wasn't sure if he could actually move. Then he did, trying to get around and pretend like he hadn't noticed her as he headed upstairs to the bathroom. He took his shower and got changed into shorts and a t-shirt, because even though the sun was starting to fall in the sky, and it was nearly an overwhelming pink glow out his window – it was still ridiculously hot. He made it down to the kitchen just as they were starting to sit down for dinner. He took his usual seat across from Olivia, and smiled at Mrs. Pope as she handed him the plate of steaks.

The rest of the week Fitz tried to make it pass as quickly as possible. He was sure that in a little bit of time he would be better- that was always what they said, right? He decided not to give himself even a few minutes of quiet because he didn't trust his thoughts. He threw himself into work on the boat, hoping that he would be too tired to lay in bed staring at the ceiling wishing he had Olivia in his arms. When that happened he had to keep himself from going out to swim laps – because he didn't want to run the risk of being out there with her. He didn't trust himself. He would talk to her when she addressed him, and tried to act normal around her but he couldn't handle it for more than a couple minutes. Instead of going out to the pool, he would go down to the garage and work on the truck.

He thanked the lord that when he swung by the auto shop on Wednesday night they had the transmission and the engine that he wanted already in. He had been working on putting them in by night until he was too tired to lug the parts around, and was afraid he'd start losing screws. That was, as a rule, when he decided he was going to bed. It wasn't really helping – living in the same house as her was going to be the death of him. He finished putting in the engine Friday night – the transmission had been done Wednesday night. All he had left were the little things – but he was finished for the night.

"What're you doing?" He heard her voice like one of his favorite songs – and his chest physically hurt as he leaned back against the truck – crossing his arms.

"Just working on the truck," He replied, "Finished up for the night."

She had already taken her shower, and was in her PJs. Gym shorts and an old t-shirt. He wondered if she would ever realize how beautiful she was – even in an old t-shirt and shorts. He took a deep breath as she crossed her arms too, crossing the garage over to where he was, leaning against her mom's car so that they were within about ten feet. It was about the closest, other than at dinner, that he had allowed her to get since the beach.

"I haven't seen much of you this week," She said and he shrugged.

"I've been busy," He replied, simply, instantly sorry that he hadn't been spending time with her –no matter how painful it would have been, "I'm sorry."

"The laps didn't work tonight," She told him, and he nodded.

"I'm sorry," He told her and she sighed.

"I was going to have a big bowl of ice cream and watch a movie, want to join?" She asked, and he smiled – he couldn't help it.

"Sure," He said, then showed her his hands – covered in oil and grease, "I have to wash up first."

"Ok," She replied, and she smiled, "I'll throw in some popcorn."

She was happy that he was going to come hang out with her - it was like a knife to him – but he smiled. He couldn't help it, and he let her lead him back into the house. He headed into the bathroom with the dish soap while she was in the kitchen. By the time he walked into the living room she was curled up on one end of the couch with a bowl of popcorn and one of his favorite soda was sitting on the table.

"Is everything ok?" He asked her as he sat down on the other side of the couch – she put the bowl in the middle.

"Yeah," She replied, and he nodded, "Well no, I don't know – I'm just feeling a little – weird."

"I can definitely understand that," Fitz replied as he took a handful of popcorn.

"I'm just kind of lost," She replied, and Fitz shifted around so that he was looking at her, waiting for her to continue, "I don't know – stupid stuff."

"Well I can listen," He told her and she smiled.

"You can listen?" She teased him.

"Well I can talk too," He smiled, and chuckled a little bit, "You want me to talk? Just let me know…"

"Talking's fine," She replied, and he nodded.

"Ok, Did I tell you the guys on the boat figured out who I am?" He said, and she raised her eye brows.

"How has that been?" She said, surprised.

"Definitely interesting," He replied, "Not a lot of fun."

"I can imagine," She replied, pushing the popcorn over closer to him, and he chuckled.

"Are you encouraging me to eat my feelings?" He asked, and she smiled.

"Unless you think it would help for me to go down there and kick their asses," She replied – he shook his head.

"Something tells me that wouldn't help with these guys," Fitz replied – and Olivia laughed, "So what about you, how's camp?"

They continued on talking for almost an hour – until the popcorn was gone and it was officially too late to start a movie – even for them. Fitz knew that he should have been kicking himself by the time he walked into his room to go to bed – but there would be plenty of time for that in the morning. For now he was just happy that he had been able to make Olivia go from the mostly sad person who had appeared in the garage to the happy, laughing, playful Olivia that had nearly fallen up the stairs on their way up to their rooms. He knew the pain was coming again – and he knew that it would be possibly more difficult than the first time – but for that night – he was just going to be happy about it. He was going to forget about her and Nate – and just let himself be happy. Even if it was for just a couple of hours.

Morning came, and he could not have been more correct about his feelings about the night before changing. He felt like he had allowed himself to be tied down in the middle of the street just so an eighteen wheeler could run him over. And the horrible thought occurred to him that he had liked it, and given the opportunity to let it happen again – he just might. He rolled out of bed and got into the shorts he had already ruined with oil, and a t-shirt he had ripped slightly when he was working on the engine. He bypassed the kitchen – effectively skipping breakfast to go and work on the truck.

For the most part, it was done – there was nothing else that really needed to be fixed, and it was running like a dream. However, he wasn't quite done with it yet. He got out the grinder he had picked up on his last trip to the shop, and started away on the most rusty parts first. He worked quickly – and was surprised to find that it hadn't really spread all that much – and it was mostly just on the surface. He then called around to the shops nearby to find a place that could take it right in to be painted. It was still early in the day – but he wanted it finished. He finally found one that said they could give it a new coat of paint and a sealer in a couple of hours have him out, after he had offered to pay them a little bit extra.

When he got back from that, he replaced the headlights, and their covers – then he stood back. It had actually come out really nice – and he wouldn't be at all ashamed to really drive it anywhere. Of course, there was the fact that if he had really wanted to, he would have updated and replaced everything – right down to the axel rods. However, for what he had started with, and what he had set out to do, and the restraints he had on him because of it actually being the Admiral's truck. He thought it came out really well. He wiped the sweat from his brow and smiled – it was done. He went and found the Admiral, where he was sitting by the pool in the backyard, and brought him over to see the truck.

"Wow," He said, lowly, "You really went to town on this thing."

"It's running really well," Fitz pointed out.

"Did you have it painted?"

"Just a new coat on top," He replied, "The finish was all gone anyways, so they gave it a new coat and then sealed it off."

"Well it looks really great, Fitz," The Admiral replied, and Fitz smiled, "You can take it with you when you go, if you want."

"What?" Fitz asked, surprised to hear this, "No, I don't have any use for it after this summer. I fixed it up for you."

It was at least partly the truth. That had been a thought in his mind from about midweek, when it had become his obsession to have it finished. There was the part of his motives that doing it was at least something that dulled his pain over Olivia – but the other part was a little bit of gratitude. Though, mostly remorse. The Admiral wasn't half as bad as he had originally thought – and actually a really nice guy. The whole family – they had been doing so much for him.

"Thanks, Fitz," He said, then looked around the garage – shutting the door and leading Fitz around to the front of the garage.

There was an old faux wooden mini-fridge sitting on the cement that Fitz had assumed the whole time simply wasn't plugged in. It was covered in various bits of sports equipment, bicycle helmets, and an old baseball glove, and buried in the back. Admiral swung the door open, and Fitz couldn't believe his eyes when he saw two six-packs sitting in the shelves of the fridge that had apparently been plugged in the whole time.

"Here you are," The Admiral handed him one, "Technically the garage doesn't count as part of the house, right?"

Fitz grinned.

"Thanks," He said, still a little shocked as Admiral handed him a bottle opener.

"Just don't tell Anna about this," He replied, "The alcohol free zone was her idea – but mysteriously wine wasn't included in the ban…"

"She won't hear it from me," Fitz assured him, and he smiled.

"You can help yourself in the future," The Admiral told him, "Just don't make me regret showing you it, ok?"

"Of course not, sir," Fitz replied.

They finished their drinks as they sat around in the garage, talking about school. Fitz told him about Harvard, and select few stories from undergrad, the PG ones that he would have had no problem explaining to his grandmother – the true leader of the Grant family. Mostly just stories from the classes he had felt the interest in to attend, not anything about his extracurricular activities. Once he had finished, they threw the empties back into the fridge to be recycled later, and Fitz went to clean up for the day.

By the time he was out of the shower and in comfortable clothes, the sun was just about gone from the sky. He decided to get as much of it in before it was gone and went and sat out by the pool. Mrs. Pope was cooking cheeseburgers on the grill, because she and the Admiral were going out for the night. Maya was at a friend's house for a sleepover birthday party – so literally she was just cooking it for him and Olivia, wherever she was.

"You want anything other than cheese on it?" She called to him, and he walked over to her.

"How about you just give me the burger, and I'll put everything on it," He replied and she smiled.

"Oh, I guess that would work," She said, putting it onto a bun for him and handing him his paper plate.

"Thank you," He told her as he headed into the kitchen, and loaded it up with the stuff she had set out for them.

Since it wasn't a formal family dinner, he decided to grab a can of soda and went and sat by the pool to eat. He heard the Pope's car leave the driveway, and he took a deep breath.

"Are they any good?" Olivia asked, sitting down in the next chair over with her own burger – he had just popped the last bit of his into his mouth.

"Delicious," He replied, and she smiled.

"They smelled delicious," She said, taking a bite, "Oh hey, I'm headed over to Nate's tonight. He's having a party – I was wondering if you wanted to come along – get you out of the garage for a little while."

"I finished up the truck this afternoon," He told her casually, trying to figure out an out – the last thing he wanted to do was hang out with her and Nate, no matter how many other people were around.

"Oh, I'll have to check it out before we go," She replied, "You can show it to me."

"Ah, I don't think I can tonight," He told her.

"What?"

"Sorry," He said, getting up and folding his paper plate to be thrown out – picking up his can, "I just have something I wanted to do tonight."

This was a lie, and he hated lying to her – especially with the look on her face as it was – but he just couldn't go. Paul and Mack were cool and all, but he knew if he went he would be watching her and Nate all night. And, especially after last night he just couldn't let himself do it. He wanted to go, if only just because it would make her happy – but he couldn't hang around the guy's house and watch her so blindly let him treat her like shit. He walked back into the house without another word really, and threw his trash out in the kitchen before going up to his room. That was where he hid until he heard her Camry leaving a few minutes later.

He couldn't think about it – he couldn't think about her hanging out with him, doing whatever she was going to do tonight with her few extra hours of freedom. The Admiral and Mrs. Pope had said they wouldn't be back until three – so she had an extra hour and a half and he so did not want to think about that either. He went into the kitchen and poured himself some iced tea, then headed into the living room to throw on the TV. He sat and sipped his iced tea, trying desperately to care about the rerun of some stupid reality TV show rather than think about and care about what Olivia was doing.

It got to be about midnight, and he heard the door to the garage entrance opening up. He lowered the TV to try and figure out who it was – assuming that the Admiral and Mrs. Pope were simply getting home earlier than expected. He took his cell phone out to text Olivia a warning to get home by one still, but then put his phone down as Olivia appeared in the middle of the room – standing directly in his line of vision to the TV.

"This is what you had to do tonight?" She asked – she was angry, and he was confused.

"Relaxing? Yeah," He replied, careful not to raise his voice, I rebuilt a truck in a week, and have been stuck on a boat during the day."

"Why didn't you come out with me tonight?"

"Because I was tired," He replied, telling the half truth, setting his glass down, "What're you doing back so early?"

"That's not the point," She replied.

"It's not?"

"No."

"Then what is?" He replied, genuinely concerned – she had lost him logically.

"Never mind," She replied harshly, and left the room without so much as another even less clarifying word.


	8. It's Alive!

A/N: So, the title chapter is clearly a reference to Frankenstein, and I hope you all enjoy the chapter :)

American Prince

Chapter Eight: "It's Alive!"

She had told herself all the way home that she wasn't going to say anything to him when she got home. She had told herself that she would just go up to her room and go to bed, and ignore whatever he was doing. She had called bullshit on him having other things to do that night the second he had said it. He had been largely avoiding her all week – unless she spoke with him first, or nearly dragged him into doing something with her. Why was he acting so weird? It was throwing her off, and she didn't really know how to balance it out. She had felt awkward at the party without him, and that frustrated her. Why couldn't he just come along with her? What was the big deal? As she was driving back, early, having made up something about Maya being upset – her anger and frustration just rose and rose until finally she was ready to explode.

She stood in front of the TV, and the confused and slightly upset look on Fitz's face had such an effect on her that the rambling tirade that she had been planning on relaying to him in a little above a yell was gone. He had been waiting for her to speak, when all she wanted to do was curl up on the couch with him. He looked sad – she didn't like that either. She wanted to snuggle up and get herself right into his arms – she wanted him. She wanted to feel his arms around her and his lips – she had had to say something.

It had been a week since she had just about blown up at him. It was now her turn to avoid him – when she could. She didn't know what it was that was wrong with her, why couldn't she just leave him alone. During the week, she tried her best to isolate herself from him, and he didn't seem to really mind on the surface. However, as she was sitting out by the pool on Saturday afternoon, reading her book, she was shocked to see how much he had changed since he had first shown up. Currently, he was chasing Maya around the backyard, just outside the pool fence.

She was trying not to watch him, but it was hard. He was being such a good sport with Maya – though she attributed it to the fact that he didn't currently have a project to work on. The truck was beautiful, she was surprised when she had seen it sitting in the driveway – it almost looked like a whole different vehicle. She tried to force herself to look back down at her book. She was starting to think that she would never just start to get over her little crush on Fitz. Maya shrieked, and she looked up almost involuntarily.

Fitz had her in a fireman's carry, thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes as he carried her into the pool area. Maya was in her suit from when she was running around in the sprinklers – and Fitz walked right up to the edge of the pool and spun her around so he was holding the little girl in both arms. At this point there was no way Olivia was going to be able to look away.

"No, no," Maya protested, and Fitz chuckled, nodded solemnly – Maya threw her arms up around his neck and he smirked.

"Oh, you think that's going to stop me?" He laughed playfully, and kicked off his shoes.

"No!" Maya shrieked in false terror, and Fitz jumped into the pool, clothes and all with Maya in arms.

He let go of her as soon as they popped up back on the surface of the water – and she swam right over to the stairs. Olivia got up out of her seat and grabbed her towel that was hanging on the fence from earlier, and wrapped her up in it as she climbed out. Fitz went back under for a minute, then pulled himself out right over by the edge of the pool. He was dripping wet, and his mostly white t-shirt was clinging to him – Olivia very quickly decided to put her energy to Maya – and tried to ignore the gorgeous man that was standing right in front of her, soaking wet.

"Fitz," Maya said, with a smile on her face, running out of Olivia's hands and taking Fitz's – trying to drag him out of the pool area, "C'mon – let's go play chalk in the driveway."

"I'd love to," He told her, letting her little hand drop as he put his hands on his knees, "But I have something I have to do, I would love to do it some other time though."

"Ok," said Maya as she ran off to play by herself.

"What?" Olivia couldn't help but comment as she started to pack up her stuff, "Big Top Gear marathon on tonight?"

"No," He replied, running a hand through his hair to get it out of his beautiful face, "I'm hanging out with Paul and Mack."

"Oh," She was a little taken aback, "They didn't mention it when I saw them last night."

Fitz shrugged. She faultered a little bit, he had her so mad and frustrated, but still the slightest things that he did were possibly the most adorable things. Like the way that he had just shrugged – he was so quite and soft – nothing like the original front he had shown her, shown everybody. There he was, standing there, dripping wet and all she could think about was how much he made her smile. She picked up her unused towel that had been sitting on the end of the chair she had been sitting in and threw it at him. He caught it with ease.

"Thanks," He replied, using it on his hair and face – then dabbing at the rest of himself.

"No problem," She replied, and he smiled a little bit – just the very corner of his mouth.

"They gave me a call this morning," He replied, "They wanted to know if I wanted to go hiking with them this afternoon."

"Oh," She replied, again not having expected.

"It doesn't bother you, right?" He asked casually.

On the list of things that were bothering her, including the fact that she couldn't just run to him and throw her arms around his neck like her eight year old sister, except kiss him and tackle him into a chair – that was bothering her. The way he was looking at her, his eyes soft and his head ever so slightly to the side waiting for an answer – that was bothering her. The way his hair looked in the sun, and his all too rampage inciting lips – those were upsetting, those were a bother. But him going on a hike with Paul and Mack? The only reason that bothered her was because she couldn't go along. That it couldn't be just them.

"No," She replied, and he nodded – but didn't seem to buy it.

"Well, I'm going to go get a shower in before I go pick them up," He replied, "They want to see what I did to the truck."

He walked away, and she couldn't help but notice how his shorts were clinging to his ass. It was like someone had taken marble and sculpted it, it was that perfect. She took a deep breath, but couldn't pull her eyes away until he paused to open the door – not wanting to get caught. She turned, picking up her towel that she hadn't used – and waited a minute before heading into the house to get cleaned up for dinner – she called for Maya to come in, too.

Her parents were off – so it had just been the three of them at home for most of the day. She was going out with Nate later, so she didn't really need dinner – she just had to make sure Maya was fed before her parents got home. This was also the reason she couldn't request to go along with the guys on their hike. She would be too tired to properly go on her date, and she wasn't entirely sure when they were planning on getting back. She heard the shower start upstairs as she was putting water on for Maya's spaghetti.

"Why aren't you and Fitz friends anymore?" Maya asked as Olivia set her spaghetti and meatballs down in front of her a half an hour later.

"We're friends," Olivia replied, and Maya was about to ask a follow up, but Fitz walked in.

He had switched from his usual shorts to a pair of jeans that were a little baggy on him, and a shirt that either had had the sleeves torn off – or he had bought it that way. She was willing to bet that he had bought it that way though, and he looked great in it too. She had been transfixed by his chest and his abs, but looking at his arms, they were nice too. She took a deep breath as he swung a backpack onto his back.

"See you ladies later," He said, giving Maya a hi-five on his way out – not really even looking at Olivia.

Olivia ate a little bit of spaghetti with Maya as he left – not quite sure what her date with Nate was doing to entail. Knowing Mack and Paul, Fitz's hike would be short, but she was hoping that she would be gone by the time that he got back. She watched TV with Maya in the den until her parents got home, and then headed upstairs to take her shower and start getting ready. For whatever reason, it took forever to flatten her hair – she attributed it to the humidity – but she finally got it. She put on the outfit she had been planning on wearing, and headed downstairs.

"You look nice," Her mom said as she appeared in the kitchen, where she was putting away the leftovers from dinner, "Nate isn't here yet."

"Ok," Olivia said, "Where's Maya?"

"In the living room," She replied, and Olivia went in.

Maya would be asleep by the time she got home, and she always made a point of saying goodbye to her before she left. However, when she walked into the living room she was walking in to not wasn't just Maya. Admiral was leaning back in his recliner, and Fitz was sitting on the couch – having already changed from his hike, and Maya was curled up against the arm. It was clear that since Maya's bedtime was in about a half an hour, they were just letting her watch whatever she wanted – cartoons.

"My, come give me a hug," She said, checking the time on her phone.

"You look pretty," Admiral said, as she gave Maya a hug and smiled over at him.

"Thanks, Daddy," She said, as her phone went off.

She tried not to glance over at Fitz when she checked her text message, but she couldn't help it. He was leaning back into the couch and trying very hard to look over at the TV. She felt a little disappointed that he wasn't even looking at her – the text said that Nate was outside – but she didn't want to go. She wanted to sit down on the couch and wait for Maya and her father to go to bed so that she could just watch a movie and be with him. She took a deep breath and called out her goodbyes as she headed out the door.

Nate was sitting in his Jeep out on the street. She walked out and he popped the door open from the inside so that she could climb in.

"Hey babe," He said, not even looking up from his phone as she shut the door, and he slipped it into his pocket, "You look nice."

"Thanks," She said as he pulled away from the curb.

He ended up taking to a little restaurant down by the pier, it was nice. Nate always at least tried, and he had some good ideas. But the whole time they were sitting down to dinner it was almost silent. There was a little small talk but mostly Olivia was just fantasizing about how much better it would be if Fitz was sitting across from her. He would be cracking jokes, he would be making her laugh, asking her about her day instead of telling her all about his. She was tired of Nate, she was realizing that – and the red flag that comes with fantasizing about someone else it's time that the person across from you was out the door.

She stayed mostly quiet throughout the rest of the date – trying to figure it out. What was she supposed to do? Nate was Nate – she had been what she had wanted for so long. He was good, but Fitz was better. The Fitz that was there at her house now, he was good. He was more than she had expected, but she was having a hard time reading him. There were points and moments and spurts where she was sure that he felt the same way about her – but then they were gone. They were gone and it was like he was a totally different person, he was hiding, and not anything like the guy she knew he really was. It was like he was Prince Charming one moment and the Frankenstein monster the next.

"Liv," Nate's voice called her out of her own head as he was driving through town, "What planet have you been on all night?"

"I'm sorry," She replied, "I'm just thinking."

"There you go thinking again," He tried to make it sound like a tease, but it didn't really come out that way, "So whatcha thinking about?"

"Nothing," Olivia replied, "Just got a lot on my mind."

"A lot like what?" He asked, trying to be casual.

Olivia was used to this. Nate was a really jealous guy, and he tended to get like this sometimes. She took a deep breath, the best way to get through one of his little moods like this was to just stay quiet. It happened every once in a while – no matter how she was acting towards him. It was a sort of little twitch of his. She wasn't sure what it came from, or what triggered it to make it happen – but it just happened sometimes. She listen to him as he started up his tirade. She had learned early on that it was best just to let him go.

"…Are you even fucking listening to me, Liv?" He asked, and she tried to pull herself out of the daze she had gone into.

"Yeah," She replied, trying to figure out what he had said last.

This was what happened when he started in on his rants. She sighed, this was so not what she needed tonight, of all nights. When she was already questioning her relationship with him, the worst part of him was the one that showed up. Maybe it was a sign. She took a deep breath as he continued on in his rant – as it started sounding accusatory and his voice started to go up an octave. He pulled in the driveway, put the car in park.

"Can we please just not do this tonight?" Olivia asked, she was suddenly just absolutely exhausted – and completely disillusioned with Nate.

"You're not listening to me," He told her.

He was right, but it was mostly due to the fact that she was just, done. She took a deep breath as his voice just seemed to get louder and louder in her head. She wasn't sure if he was actually yelling, or if it was just echoing around in her head. She actually physically didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to make it stop.

"I'm just wondering why the fuck it seems like you don't give a shit," Nate kept going, "It's almost as if you never even cared in the first place…"

"Nate, you know that's not true."

They were all the same insecurities that she gave all the same comforts to, almost on a monthly basis. Sometimes it was more frequent, sometimes it was less. It was like he was a totally different person, it was an episode in which the Nate she loved, and cared for was gone. Then again, she had known that she was never _in_ love with him. So she had always assumed that the episodes were her fault. And now with the introduction of Fitz – who she was rapidly falling in love with, like a bad movie or an over played pop song – this was her fault. Nate wasn't stupid, he could sense it.

"I have never been anything to you…"

"Nate you know that's not true either," She said, "I'm tired of this. I'm tired of this – and I'm so over this."

"Over what?" He asked.

"Over this," She repeated, "I think we need to be done, Nate. I don't see where this is going anymore and I can't take another episode like this. I just can't do it anymore."

"What?" He asked, and something in the tone of his voice sent chills down Olivia's spine.

"We're done," She told him, "I can't take you ranting on and on about how I'm an awful girlfriend anymore. I can't handle being torn down, and I don't want to fetch you beers anymore. I don't want you – I don't want us anymore."

"You fuckin' Bitch," He just about shouted, and brought his hand back.

The back of his hand made a quick burn across her cheek. She heard the unique sound of skin on skin, like a single clap in the middle of the night. The burn almost immediately turned into a throbbing just below her eye, and she brought her hand up to cover it – not sure what it would do, but hopefully relieve the pressure. She could feel tears starting to burn the back of her eyes – but she would not, could not give him that satisfaction. She was almost in a state of shock – she never would have thought that he would do such a thing. Until, that was when she looked back at him and his hand was raised again.

"You can't just fucking leave me, Liv," His fist coming towards her.

Somehow the next thing she knew her door was being thrown open and she was outside. She was standing on the pavement in the driveway, her hand up on her face and there was a large figure halfway into Nate's Jeep. He was shouting and it took her a few seconds to realize that it was Fitz, dripping wet with a towel over his broad, muscular shoulders – apparently having come just from the pool.

"..If I _ever_…"

He sounded scary, angrier than she had ever seen him bother to get. She didn't hear the rest, because she was starting to cry – she couldn't hold the tears back, as much as she wanted to. Fitz slammed the passenger's side door shut, and Nate drove away, shouting out the window almost all the way down the street. Then she was standing there, crying with her hand over her face as Fitz walked towards her carefully.

"Livy?" He breathed softly as he put a gentle hand on the other side of her face, he was a little out of breath, "Let me see. What happened?"


	9. Everything that Matters

American Prince

Chapter Nine: Everything that Matters

Fitz was sitting watching TV with the Admiral after Maya had gone off to bed. It was getting late, and Fitz was half wondering why the Admiral was still up – but the other part of him was still reeling at how beautiful Olivia had looked as she walked out of the room. She must know at least a little of what she was doing to him. He couldn't believe how much she thought she had to do before she was ready to go out on a date. She looked like an angel, but she didn't need to put that much time in, because she was drop dead gorgeous in anything. He had heard the shower go off almost an hour before she appeared in the living room. And the whole time that she stood there he thought that he genuinely might stop breathing.

"It's getting a little late for you, huh Admiral?" Fitz asked as he flipped through the channels, trying to erase the images that were flooding his jealous mind.

"I like to wait for Liv to get home when she's just out with Nate," He said, and Fitz nodded understandingly, "But I have to go to a prayer meeting hallway across the state in the morning."

"That sounds like fun," Fitz joked, and the Admiral sort of smiled, sort of chuckled.

"Yeah," He replied sarcastically, "A whole barrel."

"Well, why don't you go up, so you don't fall asleep on them," Fitz said, "I don't have anything to do in the morning, I'll wait up for Liv."

It wasn't like he was really going to go to bed before she got back anyways. There was no way that he was going to be able to fall asleep after seeing Liv leave like that. He at least had to stay up until she got home. He was probably in for another sleepless night, but he at least had to know for at least that point in time Nate didn't have his hands on her. He couldn't sleep knowing that that was a possibility.

"You'd do that?" Amiral asked, and Fitz nodded.

"Yeah, I don't usually go to bed until late anyways," He replied, popping out the footrest and putting his feet up, "I'll wait up for her."

"You know, I'm actually going to take you up on that, thanks Fitz," Admiral said as he got up out of his chair, and Fitz nodded.

"No problem, sir," He said kindly, picking a pillow up from next to himself and positioning it behind his neck.

"Did you just call me sir?"

He had been for about two weeks, not that the Admiral had noticed – and there was a very good reason as to why he had started doing so.

"I did," Fitz replied, and the Admiral shook his head.

"Don't call me sir, ok? It's Admiral, or Governor Pope, or Mr. Pope, or Tom," He told him, and Fitz raised his eye brows – first names?

"I think I'll stick with Admiral or Mr. Pope," He replied, and the Admiral nodded.

"Good night, Fitz," Admiral said, and Fitz nodded as he headed out of the room and up the stairs.

Fitz flipped the channels and realized that it was only just now getting to be around eleven. She would most likely still be out for another couple hours – and he took a deep breath. He couldn't just sit there waiting for her to come home – he had to do something while he waited. He waited until he didn't hear Mr. Pope walking around upstairs before he ran up the stairs and changed into his swim suit. He grabbed his towel from the rack in the bathroom, and headed out to swim a few laps before Olivia got home. He hopped in the pool, throwing his towel onto a chair and started swimming.

He paused for a minute in the deep end, having botched his turn, water going right up his nose. He was treading water waiting for his nostrils to go back to normal when he heard it the first time. It was sort of the sound of muffled voices, and he wasn't quite sure what it was. He allowed himself to float over into the shallow end – head above water, and his ears straining to hear what was going on. Then, as he reached the stairs he was starting to realize that it was the muffled sound of yelling echoing somewhat lowly around the yard from the driveway. He hopped out of the pool and threw his towel over his shoulders as he headed out and up over to the driveway – not sure what he was going to be confronting.

Then, as he walked over in the darkness and realized that it was Nate's Jeep that the noise was coming from, he broke into a run. He was running across the driveway as he heard Nate's voice getting louder and louder – he wasn't sure whether or not it was because he was getting closer, or because he was simply getting louder. Then, as he was about halfway there, he heard it. The smack of skin on skin, and he was by the passenger's side door as quickly as his legs would carry him. Through the window he could see Nate's hand was raised again, and he ripped the door open. This seemed to at least make him pause for a second, so that Fitz could scoop Olivia out of her seat and set her safely onto the pavement.

"Get out of the fucking car!" Fitz said in hardly above his normal talking voice, but it was low – almost a growl, "Get out of the fucking car and let's see what happens when someone decides to use someone half their size as a human punching bag. How's that sound, Nate? I swear I will beat the living shit out of you, how the hell do you even think for a second that that's ok? If you're not going to get out here and face me like a man, get the fucking hell out of here. If I ever see you again I will destroy you, do you understand?"

Nate said nothing, but Fitz was satisfied with the terrified expression on his face. He stepped back and slammed the door to Nate's Jeep before Nate sped off. He took a deep breath and turned to notice that Olivia was standing a few feet to his right, her hand up blocking the portion of her face that had been hit, and tears on her face. He could almost feel a ripping in his chest as he took the first couple steps towards her – and was a little relieved when she didn't back away. He put his hand up carefully on her other cheek, and stooped a little to try and get a look in her eyes.

"Livy," He breathed, knowing that getting upset wouldn't help at this point in time, as he brought his other hand up to try and gently move hers, "Let me see. What happened?"

She wouldn't let him move her hand, and he could have made her – but he took a half a step back instead. He looked at her for about a second, then scooped her up slowly. This, she allowed. He pulled her up in both arms, letting her rest in his arms as he carried her back towards the house. She buried her head in against his chest almost immediately, and he took it as a cue to hold onto her just a little more tightly.

"I have you, Livy," He breathed into her hair as he hit the button on the side of the garage with his elbow to get the doors to open, "It's ok, everything's going to be alright."

He leveraged the door open with his foot so that he wouldn't have to set her down. He walked into the kitchen and flipped on the light as he carried her right up to the counter, sitting her on the island in the middle of the kitchen. She had stopped crying, and he went over to the freezer and grabbed her the little jell ice pack that Maya used when she fell or scraped her knee. He had seen Mrs. Pope put it back after she had fallen off the swing the other day. He went over and sat down, wrapping it in a paper towel. She finally put her hand down and he put it up on her face as he looked up at her.

He pulled it away after a minute and realized that there was a little bit of blood on the paper towel. He frowned a little and looked up at her face again. Barely touching her, afraid of hurting her, got her to turn her head to the side and he could see a small faint line where the skin was broken.

"He hit you pretty hard," He said, handing her the ice to put back on it and going over to get the First-Aid kit, "He broke the skin, you're bleeding just a little bit."

"Oh," was all she said as he put the little white box down on the counter next to her and dug through it.

He stood in front of her about a minute later with a towel with disinfecting stuff in one hand and three of the tiniest Band-Aids he could find in the box. He stuck the Band-Aids into his shorts pocket as she pulled the ice pack away again, and he offered her his hand.

"It's probably going to sting a little – might hurt with it being so close to your eye," He told her, and she took his hand – it fit perfectly inside of his as he closed his fingers around it.

He cleaned it out as gently and carefully as he could, then put the little bandages over it. It was tiny, and it would heal up quickly, but he didn't want to run the chance of anything happening to it. He cleared some of her hair from her face, then dropped her hand and went to put the kit back above the fridge. She shivered slightly on the counter, and he ran upstairs as quickly and silently as he could. He grabbed one of his sweatshirts off his dresser, dried off, changed to his basketball shorts he slept in, and threw on a t-shirt. He was back down in the kitchen within a matter of minutes.

"Here," He told her, handing her the sweatshirt, and holding onto her ice pack while she put it on.

"Thanks," She said, and he nodded.

She was still visibly upset, and all he wanted was to make everything better for her – or better yet go back and start running for her faster. He wanted to get her off of the counter, and he offered up his arms to her again. He could have just as easily lifted her off the counter and walked with her into the living room – but probably for selfish reasons he wanted to carry her. She didn't protest, she just nuzzled back into his chest as he carried her into the living room, and sat down on the couch with her in his lap.

"Livy," He said as he brushed her hair off to the side again –she had one arm up around his neck and the other one was holding on to the ice – her uninjured side of her face pressed up against his chest, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," She breathed, and he nodded as he turned and leaned back, laying across the couch and holding her on top of him.

"Ok," He replied, kissing the top of her head affectionately – lightly, she never had to know if she didn't want to, "We'll do whatever you want, ok? So you just let me know."

She handed him the ice pack, and he set it down on the floor as she curled up a little tighter to herself on top of him. Her face was still pressed into his chest, and he pushed himself up so that he was angled upwards – leaning against the arm ever so slightly as he wrapped his arms around her about as tight as he could without thinking that he might hurt her. He turned his head and pressed his cheek onto the top of her head carefully.

"I think that's the maddest I've ever seen you."

"I think that's the angriest I've ever gotten," He told her, stroking the top of her hair carefully.

"…I broke up with him," Olivia mumbled.

Fitz could feel his heart starting to pound a little harder. He had to move his head so that she could look up at him. He was a little surprised, but mostly relieved.

"You asked me what happened earlier – the date could have gone better," She replied, and he chuckled.

"Well that's probably the understatement of the year," He replied, and she smiled just a little bit.

"I was breaking up with him, while we were sitting in the car," She replied, "He was getting mad because I wasn't all there on the date – which is true – and it was all my fault. If I had just—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Fitz could feel his eyebrows almost becoming one, "It's not your fault. I don't care if you stuck your tongue down some guy's throat right in front of him, him hitting you would never be your fault. There is no explanation where that would be the end result."

"But he was right," Olivia said, "I don't care about him."

"Well, you shouldn't now."

"That's not what I meant," She said, and Fitz shifted a little bit – just realizing then how perfectly her little body fit with his, "I meant that he was right…I didn't care – I didn't-"

"Livy," He breathed, taking a deep breath and she went quite, looking up into his eyes, "You are everything that could ever and will ever matter to me, please don't start making excuses for him. Please don't try and explain what he did. He's lucky I didn't yank his little ginger ass out of that car and beat the shit out of him. No one gets to treat you anywhere near like that, do you understand? I-"

He had barely finished his sentence and suddenly her face was much closer to his than it had been a minute before. Then without warning he felt her lips pressing hard against his. He could feel the need and the power, the desperation and the love as she pressed her lips to tightly against his. He adjusted his arms so they were draped around her waist, and he let her kiss him, her hand going up onto the side of his face as he parted his lips and let her in. She was shy, her lips started to nibble and suck at his lower lip – like she was too afraid to let her tongue loose on him. He wanted it, he needed it so bad. He let his tongue slide up and poke around at her upper lip, until finally he could feel her tongue slip into his mouth.

"Stop," He breathed, not forcefully, but firm and she pulled away.

He cradled her in his arms as she leaned back, half leaning on the back of the couch, and half on him. He took a minute to recuperate from the feeling of her mouth, her lips, her tongue slipping into this mouth. It was electric, primal, an overwhelming feeling that he had felt as soon as he had baited her into giving it to him. He could feel his whole body start to react to her, from his brain to the tips of his toes, and he had had to stop it. He looked down at her – no word to describe her other than beautiful as she laid there in his arms, in his sweatshirt, watching him – waiting for him to speak, waiting for him to be able to speak.

"Fitz, I'm so-"

"Don't be sorry," He stopped her, as she snuggled in closer to him, "Don't ever be sorry for that. The thing is though, Livy, I love you. I'm in love with you so deep down, that it hurts – but I don't want to be something to help you get over him. I don't want to be anything less than yours. Period. Nothing else, no qualifiers, no explanation more than that."

"Fitz…"

"Livy, I don't want to be anything cheap to you – because I've had a lot of that and I don't want it here," He told her honestly, "I've been with a lot of women, and they've thought of themselves as mine – but I don't want that. I want to be _yours_, Liv."

"Fitz," She took a deep breath, "I wasn't breaking up with him because of how he was treating me, or anything to do with him. I was breaking up with him because I want you. I don't want him, I don't care about him, I love him – how could I not? But it's not the kind of love you're supposed to feel for someone that's not your brother. I'm in love with you, and until a couple hours ago I was still trying to figure out the difference."

He turned on his side as she started to slip down between him and the back of the couch. He kept his arms around her as they lay there, her body all crumpled up in a way that was somehow comfortable to her, and her head pressed right up against his chest. He had her protected, the couch covering her on one side, and he was blocking everything and anything else that might be coming from the room side. He kissed the top of her head again, and reached around to pick the ice pack back up and held it to the side of her face.

"I want you to think about it, Livy," He told her carefully, his voice starting to change as he suddenly was extremely tired, "Your mind's probably going a mile a minute, and nothing seems stationary to you – so I want you to think about it. For a couple days, or weeks, or whatever you need because I'll wait, ok? This is not how I would ever want to start a relationship with you, so take a minute and relax for a while, ok? We'll talk about us some other time."

"Ok," She breathed, snuggling up closer to him, and he pressed his nose into her hair.

And like that, they fell asleep on the couch together, more entangled than they realized.

* * *

A/N: well, this chapter pretty much just fell out onto the page pretty quickly – and I saw no reason to withhold it from you guys. This week, I mean after tomorrow, because I would hate to leave you guys hanging, the updates will start to slow down as I'll be working on a lot of school stuff… but I'll try and keep up as much as I can… I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and if you want, leave me a little note :)


	10. A Sticky Situation

A/N: Ok, So I started my paper – which is all the goal for today (yesterday) was. Also, imagine the first line as said in the promo – because I thought that would fit in nicely… and for the record I do a little bit of planning chapter by chapter before I post the first chapter, and the whole falling asleep thing was an add in, and I was going to be nice and have Mrs. Pope find them – but then I decided I would be completely wasting a really fun opportunity for Fitz to at least verbally get his ass kicked… enjoy :)

American Prince

Chapter Ten: A Sticky Situation

"GET. UP!"

The Admiral's voice filled the living room as Fitz shot up. It took her a minute to realize was what going on, her face felt weird – but the now useless ice pack fell onto the floor. Fitz was standing up, nearly attention in front of the couch. It took her a minute to realize that the sun was shining in through the window, and for her to realize just what had happened the night before. Everything was flushing back at her, everything.

"Dad," She tried, getting up from the couch – but he wasn't looking at her, he was looking to Fitz.

"Admiral…"

"You can call me Sir," Admiral said pointedly, and then his voice went louder, more dangerous, "I knew that taking you in this summer was going to be a bad idea. You would think I would know better than to let a guy with your track record into my house with my eighteen year old daughter. But I thought it would be ok – I thought, Olivia's got a good head on her shoulders – there's no way this idiot's going to be able to get anywhere…"

"Daddy," Olivia shouted, as if she had been slapped again.

She was ignored.

"But you tricked us all, didn't you," Admiral kept going, and Fitz was just standing there – taking it silently.

He had his hands by his sides, and his head down – she didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to help him. She tried to step in front of him, but he wouldn't let her. He stepped out and back in front of her. She looked up at him and he just shook his head.

"Fitz.."

"I've got it," He breathed, too low for her shouting father to catch.

"…'Oh, I'll wait up for her to get home' should have been my first clue," Admiral said, "I'm just completely disgusted by your vagrancy. How did you think you were getting away with this? My little girl. I take you in because your parents hadn't a clue in how to handle you – and you have the audacity to act like you were learning something only until I find this…I can't even begin to explain just how disrespectful – She has a boyfriend, a perfect, nice kid - did you even think of that?! You know what, I don't care. I won't have you in my house – you'll be on the first flight back to New York. I guess they'll have to figure out something else to do with you…"

"Dad," Olivia said angrily, as Fitz nodded solemnly and headed upstairs.

"What?" He rounded on her – and she was nearly shocked by the tone in his voice – then he softened.

She paused – how could she phrase this without sounding like she was stuck in the middle of The Little Mermaid? She doubted a "Daddy, I love him!" would help anything – especially in his current state of mind. She thought for a second about just running up the stairs after Fitz, but didn't think that would help either. She had been trying to interrupt her father for so long that she had lost any thoughts on what to say to him when she finally had his attention. She was about to scream, yell, anything to get him to stop yelling at Fitz – he didn't do anything wrong.

"What happened to your face?"

That was a good starting point.

"That's what I was trying to get out while you decided to go off on Fitz," Olivia said, and Admiral rolled his eyes, "You know that perfect, nice kid of a boyfriend you were just telling him about? Well he knows – has known – but especially knows because he had to pull me out of Nate's Jeep last night. You wanna know why? Because when I was trying to break up with him – he hit me, dad. Hit me. He was yelling first, Fitz must have heard him and come to check it out. He hit me so hard that I was bleeding, daddy. And the only thing that Fitz did that was disrespectful was take me out of a pretty awful situation, tell Nate off, carry me into the house, clean up my cheek, and held me while I cried. He fell asleep holding an ice pack to my cheek. He did nothing _wrong_, Dad. Nothing happened. I was upset, he was comforting me, and we fell asleep. So really, you owe him one _hell_ of an apology."

"Nothing happened?" the Admiral checked, his anger quickly fading, and Olivia took a deep breath.

"I kissed him, and he stopped me," Olivia told him, and he raised his eyebrows – she decided not to tell him the rest, some things fathers just were better off not knowing.

"I owe him an apology."

"I pretty big one," She replied, putting her hands up onto her hips, "He didn't trick you, and he didn't trick me. He didn't trick anyone. He didn't break anyone's trust-"

She stopped, she wanted to tell him that she loved Fitz – that he loved her. But she knew that would be a little too much information for him to adjust to at the moment. He took a deep breath and walked out of the room, headed for the stairs. She sighed and picked up the icepack, heading into the kitchen. She threw the ice pack back into the freezer before turning around and noticing that her mother was leaning against the counter.

"You love him," She said quietly, and Olivia nodded, "You were breaking up with Nate for him."

"Yes," She said, and her mother nodded.

"I knew that it was only a matter of time before you found him. The way you look at Fitz, and the way he looks at you – honey, he was a goner the minute he saw you, before you even got home from the airport," She took a deep breath, "And ou never felt that way about Nate."

"No," Olivia replied, "But I didn't know how Fitz felt until last night, when he had me on the couch. Mom, he's so—"

"Olivia, that man adores you –follows you around like a puppy," Her mother said, and Olivia smiled a little bit, "Let me see your face. Fitz cleaned this up?"

"Yeah," Olivia replied, and she nodded as Olivia stepped up and let her take her face in her hands.

"Well, I'm sure he meant well, but let's see if I can do anything more."

She took the bandages off carefully, and smoothed over the skin. Olivia flinched a little bit, hugging herself in Fitz's sweatshirt. It smelled faintly of him, and she wondered if he had brought it hiking with him the night before.

"It's little, it shouldn't scar, do you know what he put on it last night?" She asked and Olivia shrugged.

"I can't say I was really paying attention," Olivia said, and her mother nodded.

"Well regardless, you should be fine," She said, "It's got a little green and a little darkness to it – but it should be gone in a few days – don't freak out."

"Thanks, mom," Olivia gave her a small smile.

"I still can't believe Nate would hit you like that," She replied as Fitz and the Admiral appeared down in the kitchen.

"Neither can I," The Admiral said, "But from what Fitz said, he told him off pretty well. It looks like I'm going to be able to skip a step and go straight to calling the police department…"

"No, dad – don't," She said and Fitz raised his eyebrows.

"What?" Her father replied.

"I don't want to do anything, ok?" Olivia asked, looking down at the ground, "I just want it to be over with, ok? Fitz scared him off – I don't think he'll be coming back."

"Liv…" The Admiral started to try and reason with her.

"That's what you want?" Fitz asked her, and she looked up at him – and nodded, "Alright, that's what we'll do, right?"

"Right," Her mother said, and her father nodded begrudgingly.

"Liv, I'm sorry I implied you didn't have a good head on your shoulders…" the Admiral said, walking over to her and hugging her softly, "I didn't mean it, I was angry, and I was…"

"Assuming," Olivia replied.

"Stupid," Her mom said, and Olivia got the feeling that she was pretty angry with her husband.

"All of the above," He breathed.

"I'm gonna go take a shower," Olivia replied, and started to head out of the kitchen.

"Wash your face in cold water," Her mom told her, "Keep the bruise out of the warm water – it'll make it swell up."

"Ok," Olivia said, and she headed upstairs.

She got to her room and took Nate's picture from where it was tucked into her mirror – and threw it into the trash. She then looked around the room – she didn't have much of Nate's stuff or things that reminded her of him, and threw all of it away, too. She took off Fitz's sweatshirt and threw it onto her pillow – hoping the smell would infest her pillow before she got back to it that night. That was when she stopped and looked into the mirror for a second. It was awful. There was a small red line that had scabbed over in the night – but it wasn't puffy. It was just a god-awful color that she hoped she could cover up with make-up.

She got out of the shower and did her best, but it didn't even begin to cover it. She hoped her mother was right when she had said that it would only last a day or two. She checked her phone, and she had a couple missed calls from Abby, and another one from Lynn, but she didn't want to talk to them. Not yet. She put her phone into the pocket of her shorts, and slipped into a pair of flip flops as she headed out of her room. She got down to the kitchen to find that her mother had left with Maya for church, and her father had left for his prayer meeting. Fitz was sitting in the TV room, apparently eating breakfast. She wasn't hungry.

"You look pretty," He said as she walked in, and she sat down next to him on the couch, "You realize I wasn't really going to go anywhere – right? You didn't have to get into it with your father if you didn't want."

"I didn't like him yelling at you like that," She replied, "I couldn't just let him make an ass of himself. And, I would have had to tell him about Nate anyways – it's not like my face heeled up overnight."

"It looks fine," he gave her a little smile – God, she wanted nothing more than to be in his arms again, "But thanks – your father's apology was, interesting."

"Well, at least he'll be nice to you again," She replied, and he nodded as she shifted a little bit closer – and he lifted up his arm to wrap around her – anything she wanted, her head hit his shoulder comfortably, "Well, it would have been nice waking up with you."

He chuckled.

"It was still nice," He told her, "Best I've slept in a long time."

"Me too," She replied, "When dad was yelling – why were you just standing there taking it?"

"What was I supposed to do?" He asked, "Throw a hissy fit? Try and tell him what he was seeing wasn't really what he was seeing? That would have just made everything worse – I wouldn't have been able to win that type of argument if I had just saved the world from some bad movie villain."

"Right," She said, pulling her feet up on the couch and snuggling up to him, "We should probably lay low for a while."

"I don't really like that idea, unless we're really going to cool it for a while," He said, taking a deep breath, "I don't want your father thinking I'm pulling anything more than he already knows about. And he's definitely not ready for us to really be together. So until you make up your mind…"

"I don't need the time, Fitz."

"I think you do," He replied, "Give it at least a week, please? I'll be in Boston, you'll be in California – we can make it work but I want to make sure you're ready for it. Especially so quickly after Nate - I want you to be sure…"

She wanted to tell him how little Nate meant to her, how little she cared. How much time she didn't want to waste while they were living under the same roof before they were off on completely opposite sides of the country.

"Fine," She replied, and he nodded, "But they just announced that the town's having the fireworks down by the pier – they enlisted us to help clean up the beach – we'll be there all week."

"I guess I'll have a friend for lunch then," He said, and she snuggled in closer.

"Please don't tell me this thinking makes cuddling not ok?" She asked, and he smiled down at her.

"What do you think?" He asked, snaking his arms around her tight, his nose so close to her's that she was having trouble keeping herself from closing the distance between their lips.

"I think cuddling's fine," She replied and he smiled as her phone started ringing again.

"I agree," He said, playing with her hair a little bit as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, "Who is it?"

"Abby," Olivia replied, "She's been calling me all morning."

"You should take it," He told her, taking his arms away – and she whimpered a little bit as she snuggled up closer to him – he laughed, his hands up in the air.

"I don't want to talk to her," Olivia said, and Fitz took a deep breath, she could feel his chest rise and fall.

"Liv, she's your friend," He told her, "She's not her brother, and she's probably just worried about you. You should give her a call back."

But then she would have to explain what happened.

"I don't want to talk about it with her, Fitz," She replied, sitting up and looking at him, and he sighed.

"Liv, she's your friend," He replied, running a soft hand down the uninjured side of her cheek, "I don't know how you want to handle it, but I don't want you to lose your friend over him. It's letting Na- him, win. You can't do that. He's the one that was in the wrong, not you."

Olivia picked up her phone and went outside to call Abby back. She walked out onto the pool patio, and sat down in a chair – waiting for Abby to pick up. Once she did, Abby went straight into asking her about Nate, because apparently when she had gotten to his house to visit him, he was piss drunk and passed out on the floor. She told her what happened, and the worst part was that Abby didn't even seem too surprised. Abby offered to come over, but Olivia told her not to, at which point Abby caught on like only a best friend could.

"Oh, I see you've found some big, strong– probably rip-shit arms to comfort you?" Abby said knowingly, "Did he tell you how he felt once he pulled you out of the car with my idiot brother?"

"What? How did everyone know before I did?" Olivia asked, and she heard Abby chuckle.

"Who else already knew?"

"My mom."

"Please, Liv," Abby said, "I would kill for any guy to look at me like that, never mind someone who looks like him. I knew at the beach that some shit was going to go down."

"Thanks, Abby," She replied, as Fitz walked out, "Hey, I gotta go, ok?"

Olivia very quickly found herself spending a lot of time with Fitz. It had gone from barely seeing him, and avoiding him, to spending so much time with him she wasn't even entirely sure that they officially said goodnight to each other before the sun was coming up. That Sunday night they sat out by the pool, and talked until the sun was starting to lighten the sky – she sent him to bed scared that he would be too tired on the boat and get hurt. Her job was less demanding.

"Olivia!" Maya called her – she had been sitting under the little tent, it was Wednesday and they had just under a week to get the beach cleaned up for the fourth.

"What is it, My?" She asked, getting up from where she was sitting on the blanket.

She had been taking a break, mostly because of how exhausted she was from yet another late night chat with Fitz. She wondered slightly how he was doing up on the boat – and glanced out over the water. They had taken the boat out deeper than they had been – so she couldn't see anyone onboard – just the big ship on the horizon. He had promised that it would be in for lunch though, which he had been eating with her for the past couple days. The kids adored him.

"Needle," Maya told her, and Olivia rolled her eyes.

They were planning on raking the beach before they opened it up for the Fourth of July fireworks, but they still had to clean it up. She picked the needle up in gloved hands, by the opposite of the dangerous end – and threw it into the bag. They could only have the kids out there for so long each day – which was why it was going to take them the better part of the week – then just to keep it clean up until the event. She took a deep breath as she checked her watch – and realized that it was just about lunchtime. She could have come to the same conclusion by looking over at the pier – and noticing that the boat had come in.

"Hi beautiful," He smiled – standing right in front of her as she turned around.

"Oh, hey," She said smiling as Maya ran off to join her friends – now that Fitz was willing to play around with her, he had lost a lot of his appeal to her.

"I really want to kiss you right now, but I'm not going to," He teased her, "I just want you to know, so that you can feel my pain."

"You're an awful human being," She told him as they walked over towards the cooler – on the half of the beach that they had picked clean of anything wrong.

"So how is it the town can basically enlist a bunch of eight to ten year olds to clean a beach for them, for their own party?" He asked, sitting down as she got him his sandwich from her and Maya's cooler.

"They asked for the help," Olivia told him, as the kids all sat down, and she let her voice get a little louder so she could explain it to the kids too, "The town asked us for a little help, because this beach used to be the go – to for people when I little. Of course, that's changed and it's dirty, and disgusting – but they want to change that – and they're going to try and start to change it by setting off the fireworks here – so hopefully people will start caring about what happens to this place."

"Like when we found that starfish will glass in his arm?" asked one of the kids and Olivia nodded as she sat on the cooler.

"The goal is to stop things like that happening," She replied, then looked over at Maya, "And when we found that crab that had a needle stuck in it's claw."

"So it's a noble cause then, this firework display?" He asked, and she nodded as the kids went back to talking amongst themselves, "So then, would you want to possibly go with me? I was going to wait and ask you once youd decided in a couple days, but I didn't want you to have made other plans. So, how do you feel about that being our first date?"


	11. The Fourth of July

A/N: That moment when I'm so done with working on homework for the night, and switch over to this lovely story... yay a first date :) Enjoy…

American Prince

Chapter Eleven: Fourth of July

Fitz stood awkwardly outside the living room the night before he had asked Olivia out for the night of the Fourth. It had been his idea since about the time that he had said that she had to at least wait a week before they started anything real. Honestly, it was because he wanted to wait about the same amount as she did – he just knew that it would be for the best. It would make it all seem better. It would give just about everyone involved a grace period, and he wanted to make sure that she really did want him. It wasn't just that he pulled her out of the car, and saved her from Nate. He wanted to make sure that it was about him, not about Nate. He took a deep breath and walked into the TV room, he had decided to take the plunge while Olivia was out doing her laps.

"Sir, can I talk to you about something?" He asked, walking in and taking a seat on the couch – as close to across from him as he could manage.

He had been avoiding the Admiral for the past couple days. He wasn't entirely sure where he stood with him – he had heard the admiral's apology. It had been sincere, and he had honestly seemed a little ashamed of what he had said to him without first asking for any sort of explanation. But he didn't know how this was about to go. Would the Admiral believe him when he told him that he cared about Olivia? Probably not, why would he? It wouldn't stop him from trying to date Olivia, trying to give her everything she deserved – but it would definitely make things a lot harder if it went badly. He took a deep breath as the Admiral shut off the TV and looked over at him.

"What is it, Fitz?" He asked, while Fitz had been somewhat weary of him, the Admiral had gone back to pretending nothing had happened.

"It's about Olivia, sir," Fitz replied, and he nodded for him to continue, he was ringing his hands together subtly, "I wanted to talk to you about taking her out on a date. I really like her, and I promise you that I'm not trying to pull anything, and I'm not trying to mess with anything – I just, well I love her – and you may not believe me right now, and that's fine. I understand I made some pretty awful decisions in the past. The only reasons I came to ask you was because we are going to be under the same roof, and I respect you. I don't want you to feel like I tricked you or was trying to be sneaky about it."

"Well I appreciate that, Fitz, I really do," He said, and Fitz nodded carefully.

He wasn't the type of guy that ever thought he would be sitting in front of a girl's father asking if it would be ok to take her out on a date. Or at least he wasn't that type of guy up until about a month ago. He had felt himself changing the minute he laid eyes on Olivia – and he had fought it. She was the type of girl, the type of woman that made guys – like Fitz – just want to be better. He was standing up straighter, he was watching his mouth, and he was minding his manners. It was weird, he hadn't been all that convinced he had manners to begin with – but apparently they were there deep down somewhere.

"You think you love her?"

There was no need to correct the man.

"Yes, Sir."

"Well then I don't see why not – I owe you big time, kid," He replied, "God knows she likes you – if she ever found out I told you no she'd kill me. But if I ever find out that that you've treated her any less than perfectly…"

"I'm in full agreement," Fitz replied, and the Admiral nodded.

"So what's your plan? Relax, kid, I'm not asking for all the details."

"I thought dinner before the fireworks on the fourth of July," He said, "Maybe a walk along the pier afterwards."

"Very public, I like it," The Admiral said, and Fitz sort of half smiled, "And as far as the house goes, we'll have to figure something out – but I don't want you in her room, and I don't want her in yours – you got that?"

"Yes, sir."

"I'm putting a lot of trust in you here," He said, "We're not going to babysit you two. We're not going to wait up and make sure you come in from the pool – I know you like to swim with her at night – but if I hear so much of a whisper…"

"Yes, sir."

"And there'll be no falling asleep for the whole night on the couch, either," He said, and Fitz nodded.

"I really am sorry about that," Fitz replied, and the Admiral waved it off.

"I know you're not," He said, and Fitz sighed, "Now go on, get out of here – I don't want to think about this too much. Oh, and on the fourth – we have a picnic – you both will be expected there until at least four, ok Lover-boy?"

So there he was, sitting at a picnic table in the backyard on the Fourth of July. He had ridden in the back of the car during the parade, between Maya and Olivia while the Governor drove and waved to everyone. That had actually been a bit of fun. Olivia's friends – minus Nate – were all waiting towards the end, and Maya seemed to really enjoy herself as she threw candy out of the side of the car for the kids – eating half of it herself. After the parade, they had rushed back to the house – where people were already arriving. He guessed the Fourth was a big entertaining day for a governor.

He looked up from his seat at the table and spotted Maya playing with some distant cousins he had been introduced to briefly, and one of the senators that he had shaken hands with's kids. He was searching around for Olivia. She had been flitting around helping her mother and the caterers all afternoon – and he wasn't even sure where she was. He got up and stretched – there had been a fair amount of people there who knew his father too. Luckily, as far as business went he was never there so none of them expected him to know who they were. They just shook his hand and told him who they were, and he tried desperately to absorb that information like a sponge.

"Livy," He said, once he had found her, "There you are."

None of her friends had apparently been invited to the party – but he got the feeling that this was a normal Fourth of July occurrence. Just in observing her he realized that she was expected to be a partial hostess, entertain the teenage guests who had been dragged by their parents and would have much rather been anywhere else, and keep an eye on Maya. Well, keeping an eye on Maya and the younger kids was a job for everyone – but still. She was her little sister. He had found her sitting on the edge of the pool – with who he was pretty sure was a cousin – sipping an iced tea.

"Hey," She smiled brightly as he kicked off his sandals and sat down next to her – putting his feet in the pool, "Did you eat?"

"You don't have to hostess me," He smiled, teasing her, "I live here, remember?"

"Daniel, did you get introduced to Fitz yet?" Olivia said, turning to her cousin who was on the other side of her.

Daniel, Dan, that was it.

"Yeah," Dan said, "I think we were introduced before, when I got here."

"Yeah," Fitz agreed, then Dan got up and mumbled something about wanting to get a hotdog, "So, beautiful are you all ready for tonight?"

"I am," She replied, and he smiled – he wanted to lean in and kiss her – but knew that doing that surrounded by her family and their friends was probably much too bold a next step, "I can't wait to get out of here."

"Good," He replied, and she smiled as she got called away to help make rounds with some of the kabobs that had just come off the grill.

Fitz spend most of the rest of the party admiring her from afar – as long as the Admiral didn't catch him looking too eager. He did a few times, to which he got a glare, and a reason to go and find one of his father's business people and talk to them for a while. The more good reports that his father got back about him the better – but it wasn't really about that. It was about killing time before he could excuse himself from the party to go shower the day off of himself and get ready to take Olivia out. He would have hours just to talk to her, to hold her – given that they were able to get a spot out of view of most of the people that they knew – and kiss her. God, he had been dying to kiss her again since the second he had made her pull away. The second his watch struck four, he watched Olivia disappear into the house – and then waited a minute or two before heading in as well.

He was pulling out all the stops for her – and that went right on down to what he was planning on wearing. He knew that it was a casual date – which meant that the most he could get away with was a nice pair of jeans and a polo, but that was what he was going to go with. Well, that was until he got out of the shower and decided to throw on the khaki's that were in the back of his closet instead. He put them on and put on the polo – making sure he didn't look like a complete idiot before putting on his shoes and heading downstairs – it was already starting to cool down and he tucked a jacket of his under his arm – the beach would be cold, but it wasn't for him.

"Wow, you clean up nice," Her mother said, as he appeared in the kitchen, his sunglasses hanging off the front of his polo, "Well, not that that's surprising."

"Thanks," He smiled.

"She should be down in a minute," She added, "Then you two can get out of here. I keep telling Tom that he needs to let her have her friends at this thing – but at least this time she had you."

"Thanks," He replied, taking a seat at the kitchen table.

The party was still going on outside, and he didn't as – but he got the distinct feeling that it would be going on pretty late into the night. Possibly, until he and Olivia got home, which might have been the only reason that the Admiral was so accepting of him taking her out. He took a deep breath and glances up at the ceiling as Mrs. Pope went back outside to her guests. He looked around the kitchen. He was nervous – that was ridiculous, right? He had never been nervous about a night with a girl in his life – yet there he was. He stood up, unable to to sit any longer. Then, she walked in. She had changed from shorts and a t-shirt to a sundress that he had never seen her wear before.

"Hi," She said, as he was nearly thoughtless just by her appearance.

"Hi," He said, going to her, about to wrap his arms around her – but stopped as he heard the sliding door open.

They both looked around to see the Admiral walking in, and he chuckled a little bit. Though, he seemed pleased with the levels of respective fear in their eyes before giving them a quick smile.

"Go on, and have fun," He told them, "Fitz – have her back by two, you hear? The fireworks'll be done at about midnight that gives you two hours to get her back, that sound ok to you/"

"Yes, sir," He replied, offering Olivia his hand and leading her outside.

"You are so scared of him," Olivia commented, smirking slightly as they walked out into the garage.

"Terrified," Fitz replied, not even bothering to hide it as they stopped between the truck and her car.

"Oh, no," She said, tossing him her keys, "There is no way in hell I am getting up into that truck in this."

"Just wait until I can take you out in one of my own cars," He told her, opening up the passenger's side door for her before going back around to the driver's seat, "Though I may have to get myself a truck when I get back."

"Oh?" She asked, taking his hand again as soon as he had the car started, "Getting partial to it, are you?"

"Maybe," He replied, pausing to bring the back of her hand across his lips briefly before backing out of the garage.

"You shouldn't be afraid of dad, he likes you," She said as he pulled out of the neighborhood and headed towards town.

"He has an interesting way of showing it," Fitz replied as he finally settled on keeping their hands low on his leg, almost by his knee.

"He's always had an interesting way of showing it," She replied and he smiled a little bit as he stopped at a light.

She loosened her hand from inside of his and wrapped it, covering as much as she could with her little hand, around his knee cap. He smirked a little bit, covering her hand with his, trapping it there as he finished off the drive down to the pier. He had made a reservation for a little after six – and it was just nearing five as he pulled into a parking lot right by the restaurant.

"Our reservation isn't for another hour," He told her, and she smiled, "So whatever you want to do to kill time…"

"Good, I've always wanted to go and see the festival," She said, and she met his confused look by pointing out the windshield.

He looked out to where she was pointing, and there was something like a cross between a carnival and a fair that was taking up about a good section of the boardwalk right in front of the beach. They got out of the car and started walking over. He offered her his hand as the both rounded the hood – but she latched herself onto his arm instead. That was just fine with him, He smiled somewhat proudly as he led her through the crowd, smiling like an absolute idiot. And he was happy about that. He walked around with her as she looked around like a little kid in a candy store.

"You've lived in this town how long and you've never been to the Fourth of July fair?"

"My whole life, and no judgments," She told him firmly, and he nodded, "Besides, if we're passing out judgments you're so nervous you might just fall out of your skin, don't tell me you haven't done this before?"

"I haven't," He admitted quickly, "I thought I had done pretty much everything worth doing – turns out I was very, very, wrong."

"You're twenty-three and you've never taken a girl out on a date?" She questioned him, like she couldn't believe it, "I don't know, that's pretty embarrassing."

Only when he was about to have to try and explain it to her – he didn't want to. He was ashamed of it – she knew of course, it was everywhere – her father had just about shouted about his whorish tendencies. He had told her, very briefly.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Seriously?" Olivia asked, she looked completely taken off guard, "Not just a line?"

"Not a line," He told her, "Just haven't done this before – similar to the fact that I've never said or felt half the things you seem to be getting out of me."

He could feel her – tangible. He wanted to kiss her – he turned to see if he could sneak in a kiss before dinner, and she had suddenly decided that she wanted to look at one of the heavily beaded necklaces in the next booth over. He allowed himself to be dragged over so that she can get a better look at it. He smiled, spotting it as she looked it over – knowing that she would love it. It was dark, earthy colors and the litlte tag said it was made of mostly recycled materials – or something like that. There was a little charm of a dolphin hanging from the front. He sighed as he very carefully took his wallet out of his back pocket, not letting her see what was going on until the cashier was handing her the necklace in a bag.

"Hey," She said, looking over at him, falsely upset as he led her away from the booth, "How did you even know I really wanted it?"

"Livy, it had your name written all over it," He replied, folding some cash back up and putting it back into his wallet, "Just if it makes your neck turn green, I'm going to find you a real one."

"I'll make sure to not let you see if it does," She said somewhat firmly and he laughed as she reattached herself to his arm.

"Have fun trying to do your laps that way," He replied, "Because there's no way I'm missing those – ever."

"You might have a point," She said as he checked his watch, "Time to eat?"

"Hungry?" He teased her as he started leading her off towards the restaurant, and she handed him the bag – he took it without a second's thought.

"A little bit," She replied, the sun was starting to go low in the sky, but it wouldn't be dark enough for fireworks til almost ten – they'd start going off around eleven.

They walked into the restaurant, and sat down to a somewhat abbreviated dinner. He could have sat there and talked and ate, and pretended to steal food off of each other's plates all night. It seemed like she could have too, which was encouraging to him, and made him finally start to relax a little bit as they laughed together. Once they had finished eating, they opted out of desert and he led her back out onto the boardwalk.

"How about ice cream?" He asked as they headed towards the beach to get a spot.

"I have a blanket in my trunk," She told him, and he nodded.

"Right," He said, he really should have thought about that.

"Relax, you're doing great," She told him, and he smiled as she leaned up and kissed the side of his cheek.

"You go find a spot, and text me," He told her, kissing the side of her head, "I'll run back to the car and get the blanket."

"Or, we could just sit on the seawall," She replied, pointing over to the cement.

"Whatever you want," He replied, and she pulled herself closer to his arm.

"The seawall's fine," She replied, "Besides after seeing what's on that beach…"

"Safer, got it," He chuckled as they went headed over to pick a spot.

They ended up settling in on the very edge of the beach, the very edge of the crowd. He sat down on the rough, water eroded cement wall, and leaned back against one of the pier right behind him's supports. He had yet to be up on the big pier – the boat he was on was attached to the smaller one at the other end of the beach – almost more of a dock than anything else. He leaned back, and Olivia put herself right into his arms, half on his lap, and he wrapped his arms around her tight as her head fell back onto his chest.

"Are you cold?" He asked as she snuggled in closer, pressing one side of her face into the space between his shoulder and his chest.

"No," She replied, looking up at him with a mischievous smile.

God, she killed him. He was slain, his heart was gone from his chest, and he was dead in the water.

"Understood," He told her as their eyes met.

He breathed in as the almost familiar chills that she managed to shake out of his nervous system spread through him. He was completely under her spell – whatever that entailed – but he didn't really care. He leaned in and, very carefully, cautiously, terrified – pressed his lips against hers. He wasn't sure if he was jumping the gun. He relaxed a little as he felt her starting to kiss him back – his tongue flipping around with hers. He could see this becoming a new addiction for him, and he hoped she wouldn't mind. He pulled away for a breath once their tongues had been properly introduced – as opposed to the little tease of each other than had gotten about a week ago.

"Fitz," She breathed his name and his ears perked up as she pressed her head back into his chest.

"What is it?" Momentary panic.

"Nothing," She smiled.

He ran his hand carefully along her now healed cheek, so that she as looking back up at him again. She leaned up to kiss him again, and he stiffened his neck so that she couldn't reach him. She pouted, and he immediately realized just how unfair that that little motion was. He felt his whole body language and everything about him change – he was Jell-o and he pecked her lips softly, taking all his self-control not to give in as she tried baiting him into making a deeper connection.

"The fireworks are about to start," He told her, a little hoarse - teasing as he pulled away – kissing her forehead.

"Mmm," She hummed as she put a hand up on his face and the fireworks started behind them.

"What?"

"Pretty-boy," She said begrudgingly, and he smirked.

"So you did mean that," He chuckled as he looked up to the sky.

"Ah, you might never know," She replied, cracking a smile and he kissed the side of her head.

After the show, he hopped down from the seawall, the streetlights were back on and they were all too aware that there were far too many people around them. He offered her his hand to help her down, and they walked the beach until they made it to the smaller dock. He checked his watch – they still had more than enough time to get back, he wanted to make sure he got her home before the absolute deadline. However, it would be fine if they took a walk down the dock, away from people, and away from the lights.

"Fitz, I'm getting cold," She said, and he nodded as he paused, about halfway down the dock.

"We still have like a half hour before we need to head back," Fitz said, "I threw a jacket in the car – if you want me to get it for you."

"Dad extended us to two, it's just after twelve."

"He said one, originally," He replied, and Olivia gave him a mock-shocked expression.

"Look at party-boy being super respectful," She teased him, and he chuckled.

"Yeah, what was that when I had my tongue down your throat a couple minutes ago?"

"Semantics," She teased, pulling him closer.

"You're full of surprises," He breathed, looking down on her affectionately.

"Relax, I'm not jacket cold," She replied, breaking away from the teasing, "I'm I need you to hold me and warm me up cold."

"I can do that," He replied, wrapping his arms carefully, "How's your neck?"

He leaned in and kissed each side.

"Your ear?" He breathed into it as he kissed it, "How about your shoulder?"

"Mmm," She breathed as his lips pressed, open and nibbling at the exposed portion of her shoulder.

He smiled, pecking the skin quickly before standing back up straight and looked into her eyes as best he could in the dim light. He pressed his forehead into hers as her arms snaked up from where they had been pressed against his chest up around his neck. He was just about to lean in and kiss her when they heard a splashing in the water. She was pulled out of what was happening, and he ended up kissing the side of her face instead.

"What was that?" She asked, and he went over to the edge – where the splashing hadn't stopped - it was simply getting worse.

"Point your phone," He told her, glaring into the water,"I need a light."

"What is a net doing out at night?" She asked, as soon as the light was on and they could see that it was a fisherman's net – hanging off the boat he was usually on.

"The ropes dry out if they're not in the water – so they'll float in the morning - even with the weights in them it just makes it harder - they break easier," He replied, "They usually leave them off to the side at night to avoid it."

"What?!" She sounded horrified, so he chose not to explain any more as he grabbed a knife off of the closest boat.

"What is it?" He asked, and she didn't answer, "The light's in my face too, what's caught in the net?"

"I think it's a turtle." There was heartbreak in her voice that only meant one thing - that he was going in.

He took off his shirt and handed it to her with his phone, then stepped out of his shoes. He jumped in on the beach side of the net and swamp up to the turtle that was pretty well caught up in the net. He cut it carefully, so that he would be able to tie it back together on Monday, to release the little turtle. He tried to make sure all the rope was off of him before he swam away, then climbed up the ropes, onto the boat, and back to the dock. Olivia didn't talk to him the whole ride back to the house.


	12. Who Knew?

A/N: So this is a celebratory chapter... in which I celebrate that I'm almost done with the year! (My school goes far late, though because of my job I'll essentially be stuck here for a week with almost nothing to do….hmmm)... Well, enjoy :)

American Prince

Chapter Twelve: Who Knew?

Olivia sat in the car with her arms folded across her chest while Fitz used the blanket from the back of the car. He had his shirt and phone up on top of the car – Olivia could see it up through the sunroof. He finished drying off – apparently just not dripping was as far as he was going to get. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he threw his shirt on and got into the car, setting his phone in the cup holder. She didn't say anything the whole way home, but neither did he. What was he expecting? Her to throw herself at him in praise for saving a turtle that his net had trapped? A net with his father's company logo on the edge? She took a deep breath as he pulled into the driveway, and they got out.

"So what, now you're not going to talk to me?" He asked, he sounded angry but she could hear the hurt underneath it, and she rolled her eyes, "Livy, I have no control over how they do things on the boats – I'm the piss-on rich kid that got sent down for character building, remember?"

"Oh please," She replied, "It's your father's company."

"Yeah, it's my father's company, not mine," He replied, "It was a fluke – It's protocol to leave the nets out, ok? I've never found anything dead or caught in it in the morning."

"Did you know fishing boats leaving their nets out overnight is illegal in most states?" She said, feeling herself getting a little fired up, "Millions of creatures – not fish – die in those stupid nets every year because they get stuck."

"Well then the little guy was lucky I was there," He replied, "Is it illegal here?"

"No," She replied, and he nodded.

"I don't know what you want me to do about it, Liv," He said, as she leaned against the side of the house, "I cut it free, didn't I? I don't know what you want me to say. God, I should have just led you up the boardwalk instead."

No, then they wouldn't have had the minute on the pier, when he was kissing her – just before he was about to kiss her. He wouldn't have been leading her down the little wooden dock only by moonlight. She shook her head at herself. She knew deep down that the net really had nothing to do with him, but she didn't know how to get past it. He was part of that world. He didn't care about the turtles, or whatever else might get caught up in the net – the only reason he went in was because she had gotten upset. He wouldn't have if he had just seen it in there alone – he probably just wouldn't have seen it.

"I'm going to bed," She said, and he raised his eyebrows.

"You're just going to go to bed?" He asked, shifting his pants awkwardly – they were starting to dry and she could imagine the salt water wasn't very comfortable.

"I'll see you in the morning," She said, not rudely – just saying it.

"Fine," He said, stepping back and following her into the house.

She got into her room and put the necklace he had gotten her onto her dresser. She immediately felt bad about the way she had treated him, and wanted to go and apologize right away – but her pride was much too big and much too in the way. Instead she shut her door and curled up in the sweatshirt he had given her almost a week ago, and had absolutely no hopes of getting back. She rolled out of bed the next morning and got changed right away – wondering when she would stop feeling the compulsion to do so as far as seeing Fitz was concerned – but she tried to not think about it.

"Good morning," Her mother greeted her from the living room as she was walking through it, "Fitz is already up – he didn't seem too happy, did something happen last night?"

"It's nothing," Olivia said, and her mother raised her eye brows, "Where is he?"

"He's out in the driveway," Mrs. Pope replied and Olivia headed out there.

Fitz had the hood of her car up, and seemed to be working on it. She crossed her arms as she walked over towards him. He didn't seem to notice that she was walking over until she was pretty close, close enough for him to hear her footsteps.

"What're you doing to my car?" She asked him, and he straightened up, bringing the hood down.

"It was pulling weird when I was driving it last night," He explained, crossing his arms to mirror her stance, "I just fixed it."

"You fixed that?" She asked, and he nodded, "Thanks."

"No problem," He said, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"How long have you been up?"

"I woke up around six," He shrugged, "Listen, I'm sorry for saying some of the stuff I did last night – but"

"Fitz, stop," She said, as she dropped her arms, "I'm sorry – you don't have to be. I saw the nets, and the turtle, and I just remembered where you come from… I didn't – I wasn't thinking right. You don't have to be sorry."

"I was about to say I'm not going to apologize. I'm not going to apologize for jumping in an saving a turtle for you," He replied simply– of course, "However, I put in a call to Big Jerry this morning, see if he would do something about the nets – I don't know if he will, but I called. He laughed at me a little bit but…"

He started to trail off, and she noticed that his positioning had relaxed a little bit. It was like he was even more exhausted than she was – and he had just fixed her car. She knew he didn't really have that much pull with the company. From talking to him, it sounded as if they put his face on the magazines, and then he went off and did his own party-boy thing. Which was how it was up until then. Though, based on what she had overheard in her father talking to his – they were trying to groom him. They were trying to get him to a position where he could take it over eventually – and she knew that that wasn't necessarily something he wanted to do. The company, the fishermen, the boats – they were all sore subjects with him anyways.

"Let's not talk about it, ok?" She said, and he nodded as he set the rag he had apparently been using on the hood of the car.

"Ok," He said, and she looked around, "Your dad took Maya with him and left for somewhere a few minutes ago."

She stepped up closer to him as he dropped his arms. She reached up and carefully wrapped her arms up around his neck, her arms resting on his shoulders. Whatever had been wrong with her car apparently hadn't been too intrusive – because he wasn't the mess he was after he had been working on the truck. He reached over and wiped his hands again on the rag.

"That was one hell of a date last night," She told him, pulling his head down and he smiled as he very carefully put his hands on her hips, "I'm sorry I let that ruin it."

"Apology already accepted," He told her, and she leaned in to kiss him – but he pulled back a little bit, "Livy, I'm all gross."

"I don't care," She said, and leaned in and kissed him anyways, "I owe you, you didn't get a proper goodnight kiss last night – or out on the dock."

"Let me go take a shower," He said, leaning in and kissing her softly – God, how did his lips do that?, "Then we can go and do something, ok?"

"Alright," She said, and she watched him fight himself before going in for another kiss – this one was quick.

She went back into the house and ended up helping with the laundry while her mother got lunch together. It was mostly just leftovers from the day before – but she helped her get everything out so that everyone could just pick out what they wanted. Fitz reappeared in the hall on his way to the kitchen all cleaned up. Olivia was pretty sure that he had stashed away some dish soap – the kind they used to rescue animals from oil s[ills, in his bathroom. Whatever it took to make sure he wasn't always covered in car crap.

His eyes just about went right through her as he walked into the kitchen. She felt her stomach sort of wobble inside of her as he walked straight over to her. He put his hands on her shoulders – they covered them almost completely –massaging them slightly as he leaned down and kissed the top of her head. She knew that this was never something that he would attempt while her father was around, but her mother was an entirely different story. Olivia watched as she smiled faintly and took a sip of her drink – trying not to be fully approving.

"So what're we doing later, then, Livy?" Fitz asked her as he went over and started fixing himself a plate, "Your choice."

"Oh, crap," She said, putting her hand to her forehead.

"What?" He asked, sitting down next to her with a huge plate piled high with food.

"I told Abby I'd hang out with her and Lynn today," Olivia said, pouting, and Fitz pouted along with her, "Sorry, Fitz."

"It's cool," He replied, leaning over and kissing her temple, "Have fun. We'll do something later."

That was when the Admiral walked into the house with Maya, which made the Fitz she had seen and talked to all morning disappear. He went almost rigid, and there was no more little kisses or signs of affection. It was cute, for now – but she had a feeling that if he didn't get over his fear of her father, and soon, it wouldn't be so cute anymore. She smiled a little bit, taking her plate to put it into the dishwasher, and then headed out to her car – which was still out in the driveway.

He had been right, about the steering. She wondered how long it had been that way in order for her not to notice. It was nice though, and she would have to remember to properly thank him for it later. She pulled into the local mall, and right in between Abby and Lynn's cars. She got out, and they were waiting for her, leaning against their respective cars.

"You're late," Abby commented.

"Sorry," She replied, shutting the door, "I totally forgot."

"Your date was that good?" Lynn teased her as they headed towards the front door.

"You don't know the half of it," She replied, "He's amazing, I'm lucky. Especially since I totally screwed up the end of the date…"

She delved into recanting the story to them, as they walked into the first store on their usual route. She went from the ride out to the beach, to how it had ended in the driveway. Then explaining what happened that morning with the car. Retelling it, she felt like a complete idiot, and by the looks on their faces they thought so too.

"Olivia, it's a freaking turtle, who the hell cares?" Abby said as she flipped through a rack.

"I do," She replied.

"Well, it doesn't seem as if you've done any real damage," Lynn said, much more helpfully, "He was really fixing the Camry when you got down? God, I have to see that."

"Thanks," Olivia replied, and Lynn chuckled.

"He's all yours, he's just…"

"Ridiculously attractive?" Abby filled in the blank, and Lynn nodded.

"Mine," Olivia grinned playfully.

"That's so cute though," Lynn said, "He'd never taken a girl out like that before? Seriously?"

"Well, we know why he hadn't," Abby pointed out, and Olivia nodded, "He didn't have to."

She knew. She was all too aware of it. But those days were in the past for him, right? He loved her. But at the end of the summer he was going back to Boston, and what then? She would be in California, and he said they would make it work – but make it work for who? Thanks to her suitemates at school, she had been all too informed of his movements – conquests – around Boston. But he loved her, and she was willing to bet – hope - that if he had never taken anyone out before then he would have never said that to anyone else. He had told her that he wanted them to be different. Nevertheless, her stomach seemed to have dropped down so low that it completely disappeared, evaporated.

"Liv? You ok?" Lynn asked as she looked up from the skirt she was looking at.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket.

"I'm fine," She lied as she read the text from Fitz.

_Try not to miss me too much…. I have an idea for later…_

"Hey, Liv," Abby said, "Don't worry about it – I'm positive he really likes you. I mean, who jumps into the ocean past midnight if not for love?"

It was a genuine attempt, but it didn't help. Olivia felt sick to her stomach. Ordinarily she would have opted to head home, but didn't want to go. Instead she tried desperately not to think about it. She bought herself a new bikini, and a new sundress, along with a few other things. That made her feel a little bit better – at least she was going to be pretty – not like half those girls with clothes hanging off of them, hanging on Fitz that were flashing through her head. Most of them from magazine or news articles girls on her floor had read religiously. After the mall she convinced Abby to head over to Lynn's with her – where they stayed until almost midnight before Olivia headed home.

Most of the lights were off in the house – and she prayed that Fitz wasn't still up, though she doubted he had gone to bed. She skipped over the garage and just parked in the driveway – assuming that if he was still up he'd be tinkering around with one of the cars. She remembered vaguely that her mother's needed new tires. He had probably noticed. She went straight up to her room and put her new stuff away. She shut her door and laid down on her bed. She snuggled up with his sweatshirt – which had long since lost his smell – and felt herself starting to break down. A couple tears passed her eyelashes, she couldn't do _this_.

Within a couple minutes she was in her swim stuff, and pencil diving into the deep end. She held herself down under the water as long as her lungs would allow – which seemed to be longer than usual. Everything that had been swirling around in her head almost all day seemed to slow down and be less chaotic as she just closed her eyes, letting the feeling of the water engulf her. Eventually, she slowly let herself rise to the top. She floated. Unable or unwilling to start her laps, seriously unwilling to figure out which of them it was. She started to feel the sadness again, and started doing laps.

She sang herself a song in her head, and blocked out everything that wasn't it, or how to perform the crawl stroke. Eventually she could just feel the emotions, sadness as she just kept lifting her arms above the water. There was a twinge of anger, or frustration – which she worked into her turns. She knew that she was causing the water to splash up over the deck more than usual, and took a little satisfaction in that before that too was blocked out. She just kept going, she could feel herself getting tired until she blocked that out too – suddenly she was standing up in the shallow end – unaware of why she had started swimming for a full second before she remembered.

"Everything ok?" She heard from somewhere close by, and she realized Fitz was standing in the water a few feet away.

His face, hair, chest, and arms were still dry so it looked as if he hadn't been there very long. There was a confused expression covering his features, that she could see even in the dim pool lights once she pulled her goggles off over her head. She fixed her hair quickly – it was mostly in her face – she dunked herself underwater and shot up, letting the water fix it as she tied it back again.

"Yeah," She replied, faltering slightly, and he gave her a little look like he knew she just wasn't saying it.

"Then what's with soaking the poor pool furniture?" He asked, motioning briefly over at the little outside couch – which was no doubt absolutely drenched, "It sounded like someone was building up a waterfall out here."

"It did?" She asked, putting on a brave face as he stepped closer, and she allowed him to pull her into his arms.

"Yeah," He smiled, one hand on the small of her back (lower than usual) and the other up between her shoulders, "So what happened to you today? I thought we were going to do something tonight…"

"Oh, right – sorry," She said quickly, as he used the hand that had been between her shoulders to wipe some of the water off her face, "I got caught up in something that was going on with Abby."

"Oh," He replied, and she nodded as he leaned in and kissed her, "Well, I was going to say a midnight swim – so don't worry – we can still fit it in."

She smiled. Charming, he was charming, right? That was it? Even as he was smiling at her, she could see all the girls, and all the pictures of the parties running through her head. No. She wanted him. She loved him. She wasn't going to let that stand in her way. It was going to hurt, and it was going to kill her, those faces would haunt her – but he was what she wanted. So she would stick her volatile stomach to the side – and she wasn't going down without a fight. The montage of other girls would go away eventually, right?

"Are you sure you don't want to say what's bothering you?" He asked carefully, as she realized he had her against the edge of the pool – in a darkened corner – a hand on either side of her.

Smooth.

"No, it's fine," She replied, reaching up and putting her hands on the back of his neck, flat.

"Good," He said, leaning in and kissing her softly.

She couldn't believe the impact his lips had on her, it was unintelligible. She felt like her heart was going to burst right out of her chest, and like her mind had been permanently impaired while at the same time she wanted more. She moved closer to him in the water as he continued to kiss her, his tongue, and his lower lip slipping in and out of her mouth in rhythm, sometimes his upper lip getting caught up in it too. Her hand slipped down his shoulder and down his now somewhat slippery chest. She could feel him, strong underneath her hand as she played around the center of his chest, letting it slip down to feel the protrusion of his abs.

Then, there was oxygen as he deprived her of his mouth and pulled her closer, her hand trapped between his abs and her stomach as the hand on her back held her tighter to him than she had been yet. She started to feel wet, somewhat sloppy kisses down the side of her neck, under water his other hand grabbed onto her hip, his fingers starting to ever so slightly start down the outside of her thigh.

"Livy," He breathed into her ear as she started to nibble at the edge of his neck, both hands having freed themselves up holding onto his shoulders.

"I'm sorry I bailed on you tonight," She told him, and he picked her up, holding her there in both arms.

"It's ok," He told her, "But is there a reservation process or something I need to be informed about? And if there is, could I possibly manage to reserve my own girlfriend for next Saturday night?"

"Girlfriend?" She questioned, and he smiled – pressing his forehead against hers.

"Well, I hope that's what you call it," He replied, pecking her lips affectionately, "If not I've been incredibly misinformed as to how these things go."

"Girlfriend," She repeated, and he smiled.

"You like that, don't you?"

"You realize that by definition makes you my boyfriend."

"I was sort of banking on that," He replied, as he leaned in and kissed her softly, "Did you want to get in more laps?"

She actually thought about it for a half of a second before she realized just how tired she was.

"No," She replied, her arms still up around his shoulders, "I like this better."


	13. Her Man

American Prince

Chapter Thirteen: _Her_ Man

He felt dirty – well not as dirty as he would have felt if she hadn't already forgiven him by the time he told her. Why did he have to tell her? Because he did call, not because he cared, but because she did – he tried to do it, for her. He had called his father up that next morning, and had been just about laughed into hanging up. His father didn't care about the nets, or whatever got themselves stuck in them. He would have explained this to her, but then she was trying to kiss him. How was he supposed to fight that? What defense was there for someone that you loved that much coming at you, no matter how gross and grungy you were. Particularly, when she was looking so beautiful, that all he wanted to do was turn her around pin her between himself and the hood of her car. He had had to quickly file that image away for later, not allowing himself to really think about it when he was standing there with her in the driveway.

Instead, he was thinking about it on the boat – keeping to himself, doing what he was supposed to be doing, but thinking about Olivia. He was smiling, and didn't mind taking half the crap that they were throwing at him. He lifted the ropes, and helped Nick bring the fish on down to their doom without so much as a grimace or a second thought.

"I think we broke the kid," said John on about Wednesday as they pulled up the net so they could get back for lunch.

"I thought we broke him days ago," said another one of them.

"You ok, Fitz?" Nick asked him, and he nodded.

"I'm fine," He replied, surprised at the actual tone of concern on their faces.

"You're sure?" Mike asked, "You look a little woozy, why don't you head down to the galley and grab an apple or something – I'd hate for you to vomit everywhere."

"Are you actually worried about me?" He asked, aware of the suspicious look that must have been written all over his face.

"Well, yeah," Mike said, "You didn't think we actually hated you, did you? I mean, you were kinda a little shit your first couple days – but then you settled in pretty nicely."

"You work the ropes and the nets better than Johnny," Pete said, and Fitz just took a step back, surprised, "We just liked giving you a hard time. You're pretty funny too, with some of the shit you say – I mean, I don't understand half of it, but you're funny."

"Well, thanks," Fitz said sarcastically, as he and Nick jumped up onto the dock to tie the boat in.

"Say, where do you disappear to for lunch everyday?" John said as they all pulled out their lunchboxes.

"The diner," He tried to say, but Nick shook his head.

"He's sweet on that girl that was bringing the kids to clean up the beach," He squealed, and Fitz rolled his eyes – great, another thing that they could rag on him for, "She was damn pretty."

"She's beautiful," Fitz replied, and the fisherman all hollered and made faces.

"You get her number, kid?"

"I didn't need it," Fitz replied, "I'm staying with her family."

"Oh look at you, Casanova."

He thought about it for a second, then decided that 'Casanova' was definitely better than Fancy-Boy.

"You bring your lunch today?" Mike asked, and Fitz shook his head.

"No," He replied, and Mike threw him his second sandwich.

"Eat on the ship with us."

He wasn't sure if it was a request or an order, but he did it. He liked that idea of not everyone on the boat hating him, and he liked the idea that Olivia would be home when he got there. He liked this – he could do this. This idea that people were actually counting on him to do something, actually expecting something out of him. The guys on the boat expected him to work, and when he got back to the house – usually, Olivia was hanging around pretending not to be waiting for him. She would be sitting by the pool reading a book, or playing with Maya in the yard. Always outside, so that he got a glimpse of her before he went up for his shower, and always looking more and more beautiful.

It was an interesting relationship to navigate, particularly as a first one. They were under the same roof, which basically translated to them not spending, and not liking to spend, a lot of time apart. He was having trouble focusing on anything that wasn't her. Their nightly laps in the pool only happened a tiny fraction of the time that they were in the pool – and usually when one arrived earlier than the other and got a few in before the other arrived. Sometimes they made out in the water until it got too cold, and she was shivering, or more likely they would sit up in one of the chairs and not even get wet. Talk, Olivia had all these dreams, and all these things that she wanted to do. He found himself envying her a little bit. People had always expected her to do amazing things – and he just wanted to be a part of it.

"There's my fisherman," Olivia said as he got out of the truck on Friday night – and she walked out into the garage.

"Livy, I'm covered in salt water, and smell like rotting fish," He said as she ran right up to him, though she paused about a millimeter from actually touching him.

"Fish guts?"

"No."

"Still wet?"

"No."

"Well then how many times do I have to tell you that I don't care," She said, going up on her tip toes and wrapping her arms around his neck – kissing him deeply.

"You're in a good mood," He said, kicking off his boots as she took his hand and dragged him (however willingly) inside.

"There's a meteor shower tonight," She told him, as they walked into the kitchen – Admiral was sitting at the table, "At eleven."

"And you want to sit out and watch it," He finished the thought she didn't say, "Ok. But can I go shower now? Please?"

"Yes," She said, leaning up and pecking him firmly on the lips.

Right away this would have scared him – this very public display of affection in front of her father, but he had started to not really be so afraid. He thought that this might have been Olivia's true master plan in rewarding him with little kisses so often around the house – but he didn't vocalize it. Two could play that game, and if he pretended to still be slightly scared when she did it, they wouldn't stop. And honestly, when she tried to kiss him in front of the Admiral – it did tend to get his heart beating just a little bit faster than usual.

He washed off the fish and ocean smell in the shower, and headed down to dinner. He met the family out on the porch, where Mrs. Pope had announced that dinner would be that night because it was so nice out. The day had been hotter than most he had experienced, even down there – but as the day went on it just started feeling natural to him. He took his seat next to Liv, and she took his hand on the table. He loved it when she did that. Maya was telling them all about something she had found while cleaning whatever park they were at that day.

Then, they were dismissed and he went right out to sit on a lawn chair, this time by the fire pit. He hadn't really been expecting Olivia to join him right away, but before he knew it she was sitting in the chair to his right. The sun was still mostly up, and Maya wasn't in bed yet – little rules they had made themselves so that they wouldn't over do it with her parents.

"Hey, pretty-boy," She said, reaching for his hand across the gap, and he gladly gave it to her.

She still wasn't going to be completely clear by what she meant by that.

"So I was thinking maybe we should head to a beach somewhere to watch your meteor shower," He said, and she smiled as he started swinging their hands between the chairs, "Think it might be more romantic – we won't have to worry about anybody sneaking out of bed, or peeking out of windows. If you can name one that is safe at night."

"It's high tide, there's only one I can think of off the top of my head that would be ok in the dark," She said, as he brought her hand up and kissed it softly, "But it's like forty-five minutes away. We wouldn't get back before one. But, we can have all the lights off here, it's kind of the point to be able to see the sky."

"That sounds great," He replied, letting go of her hand, she pouted – and he was about to crack a joke when he heard two of the last voices that he would have expected or wanted to hear.

"…Fitzy, Fitzy, Fitzy," He heard Chase calling as he came around the back of the house – his eyes went wide.

"Shut up, Chase," Brad replied – they hadn't spotted him yet, and he looked over at Olivia, "Olly, olly oxen free! We found you buddy, come out, come out, wherever you are!"

"Livy, know how much you love me, right now?" He asked, "And how great you may or may not think I am?"

"Yes," She replied, cautiously, and he nodded.

"Well I'm going to need you to hold onto that for about the next twenty minutes, until I can get rid of these guys," He said, kissing her forehead on his way out of his chair.

He looked up at the house wearily – the last thing he needed was the Admiral meeting these guys. He didn't even really like them, and that was when they were out drinking every night. He couldn't imagine dealing with them sober – but he was about to. He walked out from behind the fence, and the two of them nearly jumped right on him.

"There you are," said Chase, "We found you."

Worse, they were drunk – tipsy, but enough for the Admiral to not particularly appreciate.

"What're you two doing here?" Fitz asked.

"Partying," Brad replied simply, his head falling to the side as he said it, "We drove down to Florida, mapped out our route and found a good party just about every night. We were going to invite you along, but you weren't answering our calls."

"We got worried and eventually called your mum," Chase said, "She said you had been sent down here – we were going to stop on the way down – but we got a bit distracted."

"And we have to get back, too," Brad added, "So we're only in the area for the night."

"We wanted to know if you'd come along with us to the party tonight – it's only a couple of towns north," Chase said, though Fitz had the distinct feeling that Brad had just explained it to him that way.

"I can't," Fitz replied, trying to come up with a reason they'd accept.

"Why not?"

The question didn't come from them, he was expecting that. The question came from Liv, who had followed him over and was walking towards him. He opened up his arm on reflex and pulled her right up next to him. Brad and Chase were ok, they weren't murderers or rapists, but he knew how their minds worked – and he knew that he didn't like the thought of them thinking the general way that they did about Olivia.

"We're watching the meteor thing," He reminded her – seeing if he could get out of this without too much trouble.

"Who's this?" Brad asked, looking from Olivia to him, and back again – a smirk that Fitz would have liked to wipe away for him on his face.

"This is Liv," Fitz said, unaware of how his voice had suddenly just deepened a little bit, "My girlfriend."

He hoped they would get the hint to leave him alone, but instead their jaws just dropped. This was not encouraging to him.

"Like you're her boyfriend?" Chase looked fundamentally confused, and Fitz took a deep breath.

"That would be what that means," Fitz replied, adjusting his arm around Olivia awkwardly.

"Well, she can come," Brad said, and Fitz shook his head, giving Olivia a reassuring kiss on the side of her head, "She honestly looks like she wants to go."

"No thanks, guys," He said, "But thanks for stopping by."

Olivia didn't protest, and they headed back up the driveway. He could see from where he was standing that they had apparently bought themselves an old VW van, purely for the novelty of it for the trip. He shook his head slightly, and then looked down at Olivia. There was something wrong.

"What?" He hung his head a little bit.

"Why don't you want to go?" She asked suspiciously, and he didn't quite understand.

"Because the only reason I ever went out with those two was to get so hammered that I didn't remember what happened the next day," He told her simply, then added reassuringly, "I don't want to do that anymore. Those parties that we used to go to – they were one notch down from a disaster."

"You had fun though."

"A version of it," He replied, then added honestly, "But I want to lay with you and watch the meteor shower. I thought you wanted to watch it too?"

"There's not a sky where ever this party is?"

Not one that she would be able to see.

"Livy," He said, "I don't want to go to the party, ok?"

"I do," She replied, "You used to do that kind of stuff all the time."

"There's a lot of stuff that I used to do that I wouldn't do now," He replied, and she pouted – dammit, "Fine, you really want to go?"

"Yes," She replied, surprising him.

"Ok," He said, leaning in and kissing her – to make the pout go away, "Ok, but we're going to leave early if it's too bad, ok?"

"Of course," She replied, she seemed almost too eager.

"And you have to be careful, ok? No drinking weird beverages, or anything."

"_Weird_ beverages?"

"Brad can make a punch that'll have you drunk for days," He replied, and she nodded, "Ok, we better get going then."

"One more thing," She said, and Fitz nodded her on, "Where they drunk?"

He nodded.

"And you just made them get in their car and drive away?"

"Chase is the best drunk driver that I have ever met," Fitz replied, "Besides myself, but let's not get into that. You ready?"

"Let me go change," She said, and he shook his head, "Oh c'mon, Fitz."

He followed her into the house as he texted Brad for the address to the party. He got it, with an incomprehensible remark about something to do with the fact that it was going to be awesome, and he waited in the kitchen for her to come back down. While he was waiting, his arms folded and leaning back against the counter the Admiral and Mrs. Pope came in to do dishes. He sighed, checking the time on his phone – wondering how brief a visit they could make to the party so that Olivia would be satisfied. He honestly, genuinely, just wanted to lay out in the grass and watch the shower, maybe they would be back in time.

"Wow," He heard the Admiral say, and jerked his head up.

Olivia had just appeared in the kitchen, a short, but respectable length dress. She spun around and he almost lost his mind for a second. It was strappy up the back, and had a little v-cut in the front. She looked absolutely stunning – but it simply wouldn't do for the type of party they were going to. If she went in that, he would have to be on her all night, just to make sure nothing happened to her. She was too beautiful to end up at one of these parties, for her own good and protection. He was about to tell her to go change, and there was no way in hell she was wearing that – but it would sound controlling. Her parents were right there, and he couldn't very well explain where they were going, the Admiral would string him up from the roof and just watch him hang there.

"Where are you two headed?" Mrs. Pope asked, as Fitz offered Olivia his hand, he had a sweatshirt in the car – he could pray that she got cold.

"Just out," Olivia replied, and she led him out of the kitchen before they could ask any follow up questions.

"You look fantastic," He told her, as she handed him the keys and they got into her Camry.

"Thank you," She replied, but she noticed the scared look on his face before he could hide it, "Baby, what's wrong?"

God, he loved to hear her call him that.

"Nothing," He said, "Just not really an outfit for the party we're going to, but that's fine."

He didn't say much all the way to the party – which was apparently in somebody's backyard. Pulling up to the house, he could see from there that it was at least a four-alarm party. It was the method he used to gage a party – on the similar basis of the way the fire department might categorize a fire. He got out of the car, and took Liv's hand as they headed over. Just as they walked up to the fence, he knew exactly what would be behind it. There would be at least a few people off in the far corner of the yard smoking – not tobacco– but it wouldn't carry because there would be something on the grill. There would be girls by the pool with jell-o shots, and alcohol filled boozers everywhere. The whole yard would be packed.

"You're sure you don't just want to go now?" He asked her – and she shook her head as he opened the fence.

It was worse. Brad and Chase were taking body shots off of a couple of girls in what could barely be considered bikinis and it was a miracle that he could even spot them, because the backyard was so jampacked with people he was sure if you were only a few feet above the house they would all look like ants. There were a couple of people already passed out in various spots around the yard. He wrapped an arm around Olivia's waist.

"You wanna go now?" He asked – before Brad and Chase spotted him.

"No, I can hang."

She could hang? Was that what this was about? She was trying to prove to him that she could handle hanging around the party scene?

"Fitzy, ya made it!" Chase called, "Come take a couple off Leela, it's fantastic."

"No thanks," Fitz replied, watching Olivia for her immediate reaction – she was offended, but tried very hard not to show it.

"Whipped," Chase said, not even bothering to make it under his breath.

"Here, have a beer," Brad hit him in the chest with it.

"Thanks," He said, unenthusiastically as he popped it open and took a sip.

"Oh, c'mon, chug," Chase said as the music somehow got louder.

"C'mon, you can down that in two seconds," Brad reminded him, "Let's go."

"I'm ok, thanks," He told them, taking an even firmer grip around Olivia as he watched a guy walk by, eyes right on her ass – he gave him a glare and he took off.

"Fitz?" He heard a high pitched squeaky voice – and he rolled his eyes.

"Hey," He said, not sure who it was that was standing in front of him.

"Australia, three years ago."

Yes, he had been in Australia three years ago.

"Oh," He said, knowing what kind of relationship he must have had with her by the way she was looking at him, he looked to Olivia, "This is my girlfriend, Liv. Liv, this is – sorry what was your name again?"

"Heidi," She replied, and Fitz nodded – though he had absolutely no recollection of her, "Nice to meet you, honey – weird I didn't peg him as the boyfriend type."

"It came as a shock to all of us," Brad said, then drained a beer, "But I guess shit happens to all of us, eh Fitzy?"

He slapped him on the back, and Fitz didn't really respond. He was about to change the subject when the top of a bikini came flying right into the center of where they were standing. It landed right on his shoe, and he kicked it off as Brad picked it up.

"I know the rule is whoever it hits, but as you have your lovely girlfriend, do you mind if I find the owner to this?" He asked, and Fitz shook his head almost violently.

Had he really been away from this sort of thing for that long that this was upsetting to him? Or was it because of the undoubted damage it was doing to Olivia that it was bothering him? He figured that it was a little bit of both as he leaned over and kissed the side of her head affectionately, reassuringly. That was when another twenty people came in through the gate, and red flags went off in Fitz's head. There were too many people, and it was far too loud – he gave it maybe ten minutes until the police arrived. He abandoned his beer a couple sips in and had to get Olivia out of there.

"C'mon, we have to get out of here," He breathed, and she didn't protest as he led her out of the party.

He got her into the car – and took off and away from the house just about as fast as he could without causing any alarm. He got out onto the highway, and turned on the radio for the somewhat short ride back home. It was almost still light out by the time he was pulling into the driveway. He looked over at Olivia - she was upset. She didn't look it, but he had better senses than that.

"We didn't have to leave – you didn't have to drag me out of there."

"The cops would have been there in ten, maybe fifteen minutes," He replied, "It was too big, and too out of control."

"So what, you've never been kicked out of a party by cops before?"

He had, she hadn't."

"Livy, what is going on?" He asked her, "What's this sudden obsession with being able to 'hang' at a party like that?"

"You do it all the time," She replied, her voice cracked a little, and he understood.

She was smart, she was beautiful, and she knew exactly how he had been behaving before he had met her. He had known that she knew long before this, but he hadn't known how it had been effecting her. It made sense now, her being upset, and her making sure that she was always looking better. He had never Googled himself, but he was fairly certain that if he did there would be some pretty unsavory pictures of him with some half-dressed, nameless girls – two or three on each arm in some. He could almost feel his heart break in his chest.

"Livy," He breathed, "I am in love with you."

"You've said," She replied, and he reached up and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

"You didn't really want to go to the party – you wanted to prove you could handle it," He replied, and she didn't make a single move – that's how he knew he was right, "Livy, that's not who I am anymore. I was trying to explain it to you before we left. I have zero interest in partying like that anymore – zero interest in just about anything like that. Parties, yes. On that scale, and at the scale I was at, no. I don't want anyone else, and I'm sorry for how I was behaving before I met you. I never thought that I would fall as hard as I did, as deep as I am in love with anyone. I have never told anyone half the things I've told you, ok? I feel connected to you – I'm in love with you, Livy. Hell, I even know your name."

The last bit was meant as a little bit of a joke, and she smiled a little bit.

"I feel like I want to tattoo it across my chest, would that make you feel better?" He asked, and she smiled a little bit, "A big 'Property of Olivia Caroline Pope' stamped on my ass – I don't know, _anything_ to make up for it. Because I'm yours, Liv, all yours."

"You don't have to tattoo anything on yourself," She said, and he shook his head.

"I'm going to," He half-teased, and she shook her head.

"No, don't," She said, firmly, and he smiled as he leaned in and kissed her.

"I love you, ok? Could you please just believe me on that?" He asked, "Because I would like nothing more than to go lay down in the grass and watch a meteor shower, with you. And stay by your side, 'whipped' as I might be – as long as you'll have me."

"Let's start with the meteor shower, ok babe?" She said, and he smiled as she kissed him.

"And you don't think any less of me?"

"No," She replied, as they got out of the car, and she attached herself to his arm, "You've really changed a lot, haven't you?"

"Well, you did an excellent job of reforming me," He replied, kissing her temple as they walked out behind the pool fence and laid down together.


	14. Calmer Waters

A/N: Crazy episode… can't wait for the finale…. Livy 0.0 – if they think hurting her is going to stop him, it's not going to help! If anything he'll just completely fall apart (worse than last time) anyways, Enjoy the chapter…

American Prince

Chapter Fourteen: Calmer Waters

"What do you look so smug about?" He teased her as she walked into the room.

He was lying across the couch, up on his side against the back of it. He was watching something on TV that was of vague interest. His arm was resting up above his head, and she smiled as she slipped herself into the very small remaining space on the couch. She looked up at him as he smiled and very easily made enough room so that she could lay there comfortably. The arm that had been up on the side of the couch slipped beneath her neck as she nuzzled in next her him.

"Where're your parents?" He asked, she could see the confusion mixing in with the pleasure of having her in his arms.

They had been separated most of the day, most of the week really. She had been busy with work and running around with friends, and he had been tired from working on the boat. It was starting to get to him, and she could see him rapidly losing energy, as well as gaining much more attractive and actually functional muscular structure. She smiled as she reached up and ran her hand along his jaw affectionately. She could totally understand the adorable look of confusion on his face – she was a little bit affectionate with him when they were around – but was never so bold as to lay down with him while they were there.

"They left like an hour ago."

"They did?"

"Yeah, there's a party at their friends' place," She said, and he turned down the volume on the TV just a little bit.

"And Maya?" He asked, leaning over her, so close that if she hiccupped than her lips would brush over his – she wanted them so bad.

"She's out, cold," Olivia told him, "For the night. So, the way I see it – we have about three to four hours all alone…"

She had barely gotten out the majority of her sentence before his lips were on hers. She smiled against his lips, and could feel him smiling back just before he started to really move his lips against hers, nipping and rearranging themselves to get a taste of her mouth. She could feel the pressure of his lips – though he was doing his best to be gentle about it – she could feel the need. It was raw, sloppy – she liked it. He needed her, and she could tell. They hadn't been able to spend much time together lately, and their days were numbered before they were going to be about three thousand miles away from each other. It was too early to know the exact number of days – but they both knew it was coming.

"Livy," He breathed, pulling away – allowing a little bit of oxygen to flow between them before going to her neck.

It was a weak spot that he had found pretty quickly, and hadn't forgotten about. She had a feeling that he liked to hear the little gapes and whimpers that he managed to get out of her when ghosting his lips across the sensitive flesh, The goosebumps that were impossible to hide when the tip of his tongue decided to play around with her. Her heart beat faster, and she curled herself up, pressing herself closer into him. His arms wrapped around her comfortably – but he didn't get the hint, or simply didn't want to get the hint to ease up. She was still enjoying it – but – she turned her head to the side, cutting off his access.

"Hey," He said, a little indignantly, "Fine."

She looked up at him, and he chuckled as he took the open opportunity to slip onto his back. He was lounging in her arms, his legs parted slightly – and completely relaxed. She cradled his head in one arm, and had her other one draped over his chest. She dragged her fingers through the side of his hair, making sure to make it to reach his scalp, and he let his eyes slip closed. Leaning in, she kissed the very edge of his forehead lovingly. She smiled, letting her lips linger on his skin as she wrapped her leg around the closest one of his. He took a breath, and she felt his chest rise and fall under her arm.

"Baby," She mumbled, kissing the edge of his ear.

"Livy," He replied – his voice deeper than usual, gravely.

She lifted herself up, careful not to fall off the side of the couch before lying herself down between his legs, her face up by his chest. Well, her chin on his chest as she looked up at him, and he smiled. His hands appeared in her peripheral vision – one came up and cupped the side of her face while the other removed what little hair had fallen in her face. She leaned into his hand, and he chuckled – she was smiling almost dreamily. She knew it, but she didn't care. He let her slip off of his hand, and she settled her head against his chest – her hands slipping under his shoulders. Hanging on to them.

"Comfy?" He asked, and she could feel the vibrations as they went through his chest, he reached up and turned off the main light, so that the room was a lot darker – most of the light coming from a lamp in the corner and the TV.

Except she wasn't comfortable. His t-shirt was all bunched up in her hands by his shoulders, and the wrinkles on his chest were right up against her cheek. She sat, well, leaned up, and made a face – which made him laugh. She grabbed the hem of his shirt – and paused, waiting for him to stop her. Instead, he leaned up so that she would be able to get it off easier, and she appreciated that as the pulled the fabric up and off over his head before dropping it on the floor next the couch. Then, resettling herself in, head on his chest, holding onto his shoulder blades tight.

"Now I am," She replied, loving the feeling of his bare chest under her cheek.

"I could just lay here with you forever, you realize that, right, Livy?" He chuckled.

He shifted a little bit, and she rolled a little so that she was entirely twisted up with him, but her head was now very comfortably up by his shoulder. She kissed his cheek affectionately, then her hand slipped away from his other shoulder – and started tracing the many lines of his torso. Down his chest, over onto his far arm, and then over onto his abdomen.

"So how was your week?" She asked him, the tips of her fingers tracing over his abs.

"You can't open with that, and then ask me about my week," He teased her.

"Why not?" She asked, and he rolled his eyes.

"Because," He said, allowing her her soft ministrations over his abs.

"Because why?" She smiled, trying not to laugh as she leaned in and kissed the side of his neck.

"Because I honestly couldn't tell you about a single day I had this week right now," He said, flipping them over.

Her back was now to the couch, and he was hovering over her – she grinned as he dipped down and kissed her softly.

"And why is that?" She asked, as he leaned in and kissed her again.

"Must have just escaped me somehow," He mumbled, going to work on the side of her neck again, now that it was exposed to him, "How about you?"

"It was ok, boring, I missed you," She replied, and he chuckled as he pulled up so that he was looking into her face.

"I'm sorry, Livy," He told her, kissing her forehead.

"It's not your fault, it's mine," She replied, reaching up and fixing his hair just a little bit, "I was busy."

"I worked extra," He admitted.

"Does that mean they started cutting you some slack on the boat?"

"A little," He replied, and she nodded – pressing her hand against his chest.

"Well that's good," She replied, and he shrugged.

"Can we stop talking now?"

"Well, what's gotten into you?" She teased him and he crumpled, falling to the side so that he wouldn't fall directly on her.

"Well I don't know," He said, playing with a little piece of her hair, "I was just lying here innocently on the couch when my outrageously beautiful, crazy sexy girlfriend came and snuggled up to me and…"

He trailed off, leaning in and kissing her instead of finishing his thought. God, why was he so addictive? She pulled away and sat up – and he followed her lead. She was sitting up at the end of the couch – and he had this ridiculously confused, and downright adorable look on his face. It was kind of like the look a little kid would give you after you had taken away their popsicle, and she smiled a little bit. His hair was just a little bit thrown off from its usual perfection – and he was sitting up a little bit more – the dim lighting just accentuating his miffed features.

"What?" She asked, and he held out his arms, like he was still holding a ghost version of her, "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought that was distracting you too much to talk to me."

He hung his head.

"Sorry," He replied, opening up his arms again, "Talking, yes."

"You're insane," She replied, and she laid back into his arms.

"Maybe," He said, kissing the side of her head, and reached into the pocket of is shorts, "But I love you – and I got us these."

"What?" She asked, looking down at the tickets he handed her – Dave Matthews, "This concert's sold out."

"It's also tonight," He replied, and Olivia just continued to look at him like he had about eight heads, "Abby's on her way, and I already cleared it with your parents to leave Maya with her. As long as we leave in the next ten minutes or so, we'll be fine."

"Seriously?" She said, as he got up off the couch, and pulled her up.

"Yep," He said, leaning in and kissing her quickly.

"I've wanted to go to this concert all summer."

"I know," He said, kissing her forehead as there was a knock on the door – he picked up his shirt and put it back on, "That'll be Abby – go get ready."

She smiled, leaning up and kissing him quickly as she headed upstairs. She threw on something a little more suitable for a concert, and got down stairs as Abby was sitting down on the couch in the living room – and Fitz was grabbing her keys off the hook. She was still somewhat refusing to use the truck regularly, only on little trips. She had taken a few trips in it with him, but nothing too far – and the concert was about a half an hour away.

"Were you surprised?" He asked, smiling as they got into the car, and she nodded.

"Yes," She said, her eyes expanding, and he chuckled as he headed towards the pavilion – the GPS leading the way.

He reached over and put his hand carefully on her thigh – and she put hers on top of it. He kept one hand on the wheel as he leaned over again and kissed the side of her head. He pulled into the parking lot, and from the point they walked in, she was glued to his side. She kept her hand firmly laced in his as they found their seats and sat down – for about five minutes before the show started. Then, she stepped in front of him and he wrapped his arms around her, setting his chin on her shoulder.

"Thank you, so much," She told him, she knew he could only barely hear her.

"No problem," He whispered into her ear – kissing the edge of it sweetly, "The look on your face when you saw them – it made everything worth it. I love you, Livy."

"I love you, too," She said, flipping around in his arms as she kissed him, as the crowd went wild and he finished the first song on stage.

"I know I told you I was going to take you out tomorrow night, but I thought telling you that it was tonight might have been a give-away," He said, his arms around her close as she put her hands against his chest, "Though, I wouldn't mind hanging out with you tomorrow too."

"That sounds great to me," She replied, and he leaned down and kissed her.

The next morning they were a little more tired than they had been expecting. He had let her parents know in advance that they might be coming in a little bit late – because of when the show got out – and they had said that it was fine. However, they didn't get in until three. No one woke up when they were coming in, so it was fine – but they were absolutely exhausted. Olivia managed to roll out of bed first, and made it down to the kitchen. She was eating her cereal when her father came in – a smirk on his face.

"Have fun last night?" He asked, and she nodded.

"How could you not have told me?" She asked, as he sat down.

"He wanted it to be a surprise," Her father replied, "He's crazy about you – you realize that, right?"

"I do," Olivia smiled, as she spotted him coming down the hall – he hadn't bothered to do much but roll out of bed – God, he was adorable.

"Hey, looks like you guys made the front page," He said as Fitz took his first steps into the kitchen – and he jerked awake – fully alert.

"What?" Fitz asked, panic in his voice.

"Relax," Her father said, showing him the picture, the front of the entertainment section, "You're not sucking her face off – at least in this one…"

The headline read "Fitz Grant, Taken? Sources say yes." The picture was of Fitz with his arms around her from behind. She was looking up on stage, and Fitz had his chin propped up on top of her head. She was sure that it was the most appropriate of pictures that they could of gotten – probably because the concert lights hadn't really started yet. That way they had the best lighting for the photo. Fitz had a mixture of relief and terror on his face.

"Dad!" Olivia said, Fitz looked like he was going to drop to his knees and beg him for forgiveness.

"Oh, you think you two are so sneaky," He said, somewhat sarcastically, "You don't think I see those little exchanges around the house once in a while?"

"Ah," Fitz started, and the Admiral just sort of shook his head as he got up and left.

The second Olivia deemed him out of earshot, she couldn't help but burst into a small fit of laughter. He still looked absolutely terrified – like he was about to shit himself, and she got up out of her seat. He froze up a little as she got close enough to wrap her arms around him, pulling him – as frozen as he was – towards her.

"Baby, it's ok," She told him, reaching up and fixing his hair a little bit, "He's not mad. I think he's almost halfway to accepting us."

"I don't know about that," He replied, as she leaned up and kissed him quickly.

"He did let you keep me out pretty late, and didn't even comment on it," She replied, "The Admiral, he sees just about everything – it's just sorta something you have to get used to."

"It's a little weird," He replied, leaning in – letting his forehead rest against hers.

"I love you," She smiled up at him, and he grinned, kissing her quickly.

"Did I just get two 'I love you's in under twenty-four hours?" He asked, teasing her as he leaned in and kissed her again, "I've got to take you to more sold-out things."

"You don't have to do that," She told him as she let go of him and let him go on to make his breakfast, "You don't have to spoil me."

"Oh, I will," He teased, "Just wait until I can fly you out to Boston for the weekend – you wouldn't believe who shows up there – pretty regularly."

"You're going to fly me into Boston?" She questioned, as he sat down to eat his cereal – across from where she had been sitting, a seat she reclaimed, "Is that your plan?"

"Or we could do trips – meet up in various places," He said, "Halfway, or not so halfway points."

"Not so halfway points?" She asked, and he smiled a little bit.

"Oh, you think you're spoiled now," He remarked, "Just wait until I'm flying across the country just to see you. And what'll be happening then…"

"Why am I suddenly very concerned?" She asked, and he chuckled a little bit.

"Don't worry about it, then," He replied, taking hold of her hand across the table – running his thumb across the back of it, "I know you're concerned about what will happen once we're both back at school – and I don't want you to worry. At all. I'll be spending any and all free time in some sort of activity revolving around you. I'll either be flying to see you, or I'll be calling you on the phone. Livy, it doesn't have to be a case of our days being numbered. I'd much rather it wasn't – so it's not going to be. I'm not going to let that happen."


	15. The Storm

A/N: Hello there, all - I hope you're all still alive after that sneak peek for the finale… enjoy :)

American Prince

Chapter Fifteen: The Storm

"Fitz, grab that tarp, and can you grab some duct tape down from the galley for me?"

"Yeah," Fitz said, as the sky that had been perfectly clear that morning started to darken above them.

They had known about the storm – the news had been reporting about it almost all week – but they hadn't paid it much attention. They had gone out in the morning, ran a couple nets before realizing the fish just weren't there, and decided that maybe the news reports had been right. One they got into the dock, it was pretty clear and all they had to do was pull everything in, take down some of the rigging, and make sure that everything was packed up accordingly. He was just helping Nick tie in a part of the rigging as they turned up the volume on the radio inside of the cabin.

"_...It looks as though storm that we've been referring to as Lindsey, is going to be reaching the coast in less than a couple hours – and the wind speeds have picked up to eighty miles an hour, and is expected to hit the coast at that speed. So, this is officially a hurricane."_

"You heard the man," John called, lowering it again, "Finish it up and head home."

"Ok," Fitz called back for most of them, and he looked up as Olivia was walking down dock towards the boat.

A silent chill went down his spine, and he took a deep breath. It was his near instant reaction when even thinking about her out on the docks. But, it was almost purely due to a reasonable issue. That was, the fact that the last time he had seen her out there – it had been right before the turtle had gotten stuck. He took a deep breath, and hopped off the boat to. He could feel John's eyes on him as he hopped off – then assumed that he had spotted Olivia.

"You can go, Fitz," He told him, and Fitz nodded in appreciation.

"Thanks," He said, as Olivia reached him, wrapping her arms up around his neck.

"You're off?" She sounded disappointed, and he nodded, starting to walk her back towards the parking lot.

"Why are you sad about that?" He asked, and she pouted.

"Camp was cancelled because of the storm," She told him, "I came down to have lunch with you."

"The storm's coming in quicker than they thought it was going to," He said, oholding she didn't notice the relief in him as they stepped off onto the pavement, "How about we go back, and I'll cook us up something for lunch."

"You're going to cook?" She asked suspiciously as he looked around the parking lot.

"Where's your car?"

"Abby dropped me off," She replied, "I was figuring on just hanging around until you were done."

"Well then, I guess you're riding with me," He said, chuckling as it was just starting to rain – and he opened her side of the truck for her as everyone came running off the docks.

"That was the plan," She said, and he stole a kiss from her before helping her up into the cab.

The rain had started to fall a little heavier as he pulled into the driveway, pulling right into the garage. Her Camry was the only other car in the garage, and he raised an eyebrow. He at least thought that Mrs. Pope would be home, but then remembered something the night before about her taking Maya down to see her sister and by definition Maya's cousins. No one was actually expecting the storm to be as they said, but if the rain that was already falling was any indication – it was going to be pretty bad.

"Dad texted me, he has to stay at the statehouse – so he can handle everything that's about to go down," She said as they climbed out of the truck – and Fitz reached for her hand on the way to the door, "So you can cook?"

"About that," He chuckled as they walked into the kitchen, "Would you like pasta? Or Grilled Cheese? Or pancakes."

"Impressive."

She smirked as he backed her in against the counter, his hands slipping down onto her lips as he leaned in and kissed her. She smiled as he pulled away, kissing her nose as he did. He brought one hand up to cup the side of her jaw, and kissed the top of her head. He could hear her breathing start to get a little less regular, and tried desperately not to think about what that meant. What he knew that meant, and what he knew that that meant was going on in her head. He was having enough trouble just trying to control his own thoughts. He took a deep breath, attempting to say something back that had something to do with what was actually going on.

"Thank-you," He replied, and she smirked as she grabbed a pizza take out menu – she slipped it up and held it in the few inches between their faces.

"The rain isn't too bad yet," She told him, "They'll probably still deliver."

"You're mean," he teased her, taking it and holding it by his side.

"I want to slip into something comfy," She said, and he let his eyes wander down.

She was wearing this amazing little tennis skirt that stopped just after her thighs, and a v-neck t-shirt that was giving him just enough of a view. He ran his hand gently down her side, he wanted her to stay. He didn't really care what she was wearing, though she was looking particularly gorgeous, he just wanted her to be there with him. Though, he'd be lying to himself if he didn't acknowledge the fact that he was getting completely lost in her body. All of a sudden he felt her hand under his chin, turning his head back up so that he was looking into her eyes.

"Yes?" He smiled, in an attempt to ease whatever she was feeling.

"Fitz," She was laughing, good, "I'm up here."

"Right," He said, chuckling as he leaned in and kissed her, "Why don't you ah, go find something comfier and I'll ah—"

"Order us a pizza?" She smirked – damn it.

He nodded, and stepped back so that she could head upstairs. He took a breath, how the hell was it that she affected him so dramatically? He had to take a minute to clear his head out a little bit before he pulled his cellphone out to call in for a pizza. Luckily, they were still delivering, for the next hour or so anyways. He gave them the address to the house, and then hung up – taking another deep breath as he slipped his phone back into his pocket and went upstairs to shower and change. However, he stopped in the doorway of his room as he walked up to it. Olivia was standing in the middle of it, in a tank top with lace around the edges and she had thrown a zip-up hoodie of his on top of it – little, and brightly colored pair of her own shorts. The kind you would run in.

"Raiding my room?" He asked, and she smiled, putting a hand on his chest as she headed out the door.

"Let me know if you want anything from mine," She said, kissing him far too briefly as she walked by.

He turned his head and watched as she walked away down the hall, before he walked in to his room and got ready for his shower. It was a cold shower, trying to calm himself down. Though, he had a feeling that he was already not in control of the situation. He got out and headed downstairs, spotting the delivery car out the window and he got to the door just in time to open it before they knocked. He took the pizza, gave them the money, tipped them nicely, and apologized that they had to be working in the storm.

"Pizza's here," He called, carrying it on one hand – walking through the house looking for her.

"I'm in the back room," She called, and he quirked an eyebrow – he wasn't even sure he had really been in there.

He walked in and set the pizza down on the coffee table, which was in the middle of the somewhat living room like set up. The way it was decorated he got the feeling that it was Olivia's little hide away – but he was surprised that he hadn't really spent that much time in there. The far wall, where the couch was facing, was almost completely glass, the view was mostly of the sky – the ceiling was like a huge bubble. There was just enough of the wall along the bottom so that you couldn't really see the yard. Olivia was lying across a couch.

"Mom's going to stay with Aunt Carol, because they're about to close down the streets, and it's too far away for her to get home."

"They're about to close the streets?" He asked, sitting down by her feet as he opened up the pizza box.

"The perks of having pretty good contact with the governor," She replied, and he nodded as she sat up and grabbed a slice, "We're supposed to be behave, and stay away from windows."

"So why're we in here?" He asked as he leaned back, folding two pieces into one and taking a bite, wrapping his arm around her.

"Because," She said as there was a rumble of distant thunder, and a crack of light across the sky, "That."

"Understood," He replied, finishing his first two pieces as she finished her first.

"Besides, the glass in here's pretty thick," She said, "So unless a full tree lands on it – which is unlikely – it won't break or shatter or anything. I love watching thunder storms from here."

"Ok," He replied, laying back, and she laid in front of him.

He put his head just about on top of hers as he wrapped his arm around her, snuggling in tenderly. She slipped one of her legs back, and between his – he squeezed it a little bit, affectionately. He turned his head and kissed the side of her neck. She squirmed against him, and he grinned, pulling his sweatshirt down off her shoulder slightly so that he could kiss her shoulder.

"Hold on," She said, pulling just enough away from him so that she could shrug out of it, and let the sweatshirt go onto the floor.

"Damn," He buried his nose into the side of her neck as she returned herself to him.

"Turn," She told him, rolling over in his arms so that she was facing him.

He was about to, but then decided to make it a little more fun than that.

"Make me," He said playfully – his lips inches from hers.

"Ok," She said simply.

She leaned in and kissed him, his eyes closed before she even touched her lips to his. He could feel the tips of her fingers against the side of his jaw. He was taking his time, kissing her slowly, as she pressed against his shoulder, persuasive, warming. He gave in, instantly he was on his back, and she was lying just to his side. He wanted her on top of him, or the other way around – he wasn't particularly picky. He felt the urge to pull her up, but fought it, instead turning his head to the side so that he could continue kissing her.

"Nice view, huh?" She asked as they pulled apart, and she snuggled up to his side – pointing up at the glass ceiling.

"Yeah," He forced himself to look up at the sky as she turned off the lights, leaving the lightning as most of the light.

He had to admit that it was one of the more beautiful things that he had seen. The storm was almost instantly turned into a light show, like a laser show that was starting to feel like it was running through the whole house. He smiled as she snuggled in a little tighter, his arms tight around her – and then he glanced down at her. He kissed the top of her head, the closest portion of her that was within reach, and she whipped up to look at him.

"What?" She asked, and he just leaned down and kissed her.

"I love you, Livy," He said, his hand on the side of her face – his thumb caressing her cheek.

"Baby," She whispered, her eyes fluttering closed as he leaned in and kissed her again.

The next minute Fitz wasn't entirely sure what was going on – and for the most part he was ok with that. She rolled over and straddled him. He looked up at her for a second, and just barely got a clear picture of her before she leaned down and kissed him. Passionately, he felt her lips touching down on his, playing, teasing, and destroying his. He groaned as he felt his shirt being unbuttoned – rapidly, and then it was gone.

He chuckled, watching her face as she ran her hands down his chest. Her finger tips leaving his skin burning, and his mind spinning. He wanted her, he needed her in his arms, as close to him as he could get her – maybe closer. His throat was dry, and he had to clear his throat. He shifted underneath her, suddenly very uncomfortable After a couple of seconds, he put his hand up on her chin and lifted her face – smirking.

"Livy, I'm up here," He teased her, and she smiled shyly as he sat up just enough to kiss her.

"Smooth," She breathed between kisses, and he chuckled – loving the feeling of her smiling lips against his.

He ran one hand through her hair as she kissed him feverishly, the other slipped right over her ass like it was the most natural thing in the world. Running circles around her neck as his hand slipped out of her hair. Eventually he setted it down to wrap it around the back of her neck.

"Fitz," She breathed.

He started kissing down the side of her neck, continuing on down her arm until he got to her hand, then went back up. He added a little tongue, kicking it up a little bit as he kissed across her collar bone. He ignored and worked around the spaghetti straps that were holding the tiny portion of fabric on her. It very quickly joined his shirt on the floor, and he hadn't even lifted a finger to remove it. He froze, she was hovering over him in her bra – his hand had flown right onto her stomach – pulling her closer.

"Livy," He breathed in her ear and she kissed him.

This was wrong. This was exactly what he wanted, but it couldn't happen like this, could it? She began nibbling and sucking around the base of his neck – and he was struggling to keep his train of thought. She deserved better than him, she deserved something better. He wasn't what she needed, she needed a man – not some guy that had been sleeping around since he had managed to get enough freedom to be able to. She was everything, and he didn't deserve her, at all. He didn't know how far she had gotten with Nate – and based on his track record, he never thought that that was something he should bother asking. It wasn't like he really wanted to know – because he didn't know if he could handle it. Though, based on their interactions, he was a little confused about it to begin with. She was pressing herself against him, hard.

"Fitz," She breathed in his ear as he felt her hands slip between them – trying to get the button on his shorts open.

"Livy, stop," He breathed, and she froze – his hands were already positioned on the sides of her shorts – the top her panties sneaking through – he could see the bright colored lace.

"What?"

There was an instant note of panic in her voice, and he kissed her – trying to assure her of whatever awful thought just crossed into her head.

"Liv, I'm—" He struggled to keep himself talked, "I can't. I'm not anything that you really want. You deserve so much better than me. I don't want to…"

"Fitz," She called his attention; she sounded a little annoyed, but kissed him nonetheless as she collapsed to his side, "What?"

She removed a hand that had fallen on his thigh, and he could see her recoiling, and he knew he had to stop. It, he knew that she was just a couple words from getting up and going – but he didn't want that, either. He heard thunder and lightning crash and light up the sky as he leaned in and tried to kiss her. She blew him off, turning her head so that he was forced to kiss her cheek – he couldn't really blame her.

"Livy," He breathed, taking her in his arms so that she would have a harder time leaving.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"A lot," He told her, "I'm sorry, it's just – you…"

"You think you're not good enough? For what?" She asked him, he could hear a little bit of venom in her voice, "To date me, to make me fall in love with you? Because you've done that already. And you won't make love to me? Why?"

"Because – I'm new to this, ok?" He said, and she raised her eyebrows, "Livy, I worship the ground you walk on, I'm not anywhere near wor-"

"I love you. I'm in love with you, Fitz," She told him, "So forget about all that, ok? I want you. I want you to make love to me, more than just this once. Damn it, Fitz – Do you just not want me? Because if you were - this is a hell of a time to develop a conscious."

"Hey, hey," He said, "I was not, and am not playing you…"

"Ok, then Fitz – I want you. I know you haven't always been this amazing guy you are with and for me," She told him, "I'm aware – and it's all irrelevant at this point. You get a clean slate with me, ok?"

He rolled them over so that she was lying on her back below him, leaning down and kissing her. Her hands went straight back through his hair – finding their way to the back as he leaned in to deepen the kiss. His hands roaming her freely, she gaped and sounded as if she had lost all the breath out of her as he slipped her shorts down.

"I love you, so much, Livy," He breathed into her ear as her hands flew to his zipper.


	16. A Mess

A/N: So, just to keep the ball rolling… Enjoy the chapter…

American Prince

Chapter Sixteen: A Mess

"Fitz!"

It was a feeling like she could have never even described. There was pain, but it was minimal, and there was nothing like him – the feeling that he could give her. The way that he had touched her, so gently, and the way that he had laid so many kisses down her entire body. Fitz, his hands slipping around her so carefully, so perfectly. He didn't need to be told anything, he just sort of knew how to handle it. She had been shot off into oblivion, only to wake up from the most magnificent dream in Fitz's arms.

Olivia snuggled herself up into Fitz's chest as he rewrapped his arms around her. Lightening cracked across the sky above them, and Fitz cleared the hair from her face – kissing her tenderly – carefully. He pulled her up so that she was lying flat on top of him, and he reached down. She wasn't quite sure what for until he brought his sweatshirt up and put it up over to cover her – throwing it over her back as she snuggled into his shoulder. His leg curled around hers, and she kissed the side of his neck. It was weird – she could feel him react to her lips – without any real physical reaction that was notable.

"Fitz," She breathed his name this time, as his hands slipped up and down her body soothingly.

"Yes, beautiful?" He replied, turning his head and kissing the side of her head as she nuzzled further into the side of his neck.

He was being affectionate, but she could tell that there was something on his mind. She popped her head up a little bit, as lightning flashed above them again, momentarily making it seem as if it was daylight in the room. She tried snuggling in tighter to him, and he only pulled her closer. He kissed the top of her head. She slipped her hand out from under her and stroked the side of his head affectionately. Her heart was just about to burst with how much she loved him, the man lying naked beneath her.

"What is it?"

"I'm just cold," She replied, "It's always a little drafty in here."

She watched as he looked around for a minute, trying to spot a blanket in the dimly lit room – there weren't any. She had already known this and she pouted as he slipped out from underneath her, laying his shirt over her legs as he knelt by the couch. He smiled – she could see the light reflecting off his teeth, then brushed her hair back with his hand about as gently as he could manage. She smiled, as Fitz leaned in and kissed her softly, she couldn't help but bait him for more – which he gladly gave her.

"I'm gonna go grab a blanket from the living room," He told her, flipping on a light in the corner, standing up and pulling on his shorts – barely bothering to fasten them.

"The blue one," She requested, and she could hear him chuckling as he headed back into the small door that led into the rest of the house.

The back room had originally been a porch, but it had been renovated. It was her little runaway place that she had adopted when Maya had been born. It had been her escape since she was little, when the baby was crying so loud that she couldn't sleep, she had gone out and slept on the couch out there instead. Then, it just became a sort of second room for her. The stars were her ceiling, and it was calming to her. She had done her homework out there, and treated it as her little hideaway. None of the family ever spent time out there – and just sort of accepted over time that it was her place to be.

"I couldn't find the blue one," He said as he walked back in, dropping his shorts as she sat up and zipped his hoodie up on herself, "I got the green one."

He pulled his shorts back off before lying down, and throwing the blanket up in the air a little so that it would fall over them. He turned onto his side, pulling her in close, pressing his nose against her forehead. She smiled, his foot rubbed up and down her leg.

"You're playing footsies with me?" She chuckled as he leaned in and kissed her, "Really?"

"Mmm," He smiled as he pressed his lips against the base of her neck, almost just on her shoulder, "Maybe."

"I love you," She said, her hand up on his cheek as she kissed him.

"Livy, I don't know what I would ever do with you," He replied, leaning in and kissing her again, "I love you, more than anything in the world."

"Then what's going on?" She asked him, running her hand through his amazing curly hair.

"Nothing," He told her, but he still sounded off as he tried to reassure her.

"Baby," She said as she leaned up and kissed him, snuggling up against him as best as she could.

He didn't answer her when she pulled away – but she hadn't really expected him to. He pulled her in close, and they looked up through the window, slipping in and out of sleep as the storm rumbled on in the sky, getting worse and worse. Fitz had forgotten to turn the light off when he came back in, and once they were back in each other's arms, it wasn't a priority. Neither of them could find the energy to get up and turn it off, or the will to leave the couch. It wasn't hurting anything – and they fell into silent agreement just to leave it.

"I can't even stop to think about how much I love you."

She woke up from one of her mini-naps and he was up against the arm of the couch. The blanket was down covering all of her, which meant that it was only covering the small section from about halfway down his shin, to halfway up his abs. She looked up at him as she ran her hands over him, scooting herself up so that she could put her head closer up by his heart – which was beating in a slow, easy rhythm. She smiled, and grinned back at her as she kissed the center of his chest.

"Round two?" She requested – and he raised his eyebrows.

"Are you sure?" He asked, and she gave him a slight eye roll, "You're not sore, or tired, or anything?"

"Wow, ego," She teased him and he leaned down and kissed her.

"That's not…"

He knew.

"Oh," She said, and he scooted down and turned on his side, to be eye-level with her.

"Why didn't you tell me, Livy?" He asked, his hand coming up and cupping the side of her face as the whole house shook a little bit from the thunder – the wind was howling like no other.

"I didn't – you were already," Olivia started, "You never asked, and I didn't think that it would be all that important to you."

He gave her a soft little kiss, giving her a slightly confused look.

"You were already hesitant," She told him, as he pressed his forehead into her shoulder, "I wasn't about to tell you that I hadn't done anything like this before. It wouldn't change anything, I would still have wanted it to be you, and I I want you – Fitz. I was with a crappy boyfriend for two months before I left for school – "

"Don't," He stopped her – then paused, "Talk about him."

"Fitz," She leaned up and kissed him, rolling over on top of him, "I love you. I wanted you, and I still want you, ok?"

"I love you," He told her, taking a deep breath, "I just didn't understand why you wouldn't have given me a little warning."

"Why though?" She asked, and suddenly the light in the corner turned off – along with the rest of the power in the rest of the house, "Did we seriously just lose power?"

"Apparently," He said, slipping off the couch, and handing her her running shorts.

She zipped the sweatshirt up a little bit better as she slipped them on, and he threw his shorts back on. Her phone started to ring under the pile of clothes on the floor, and Fitz handed it to her – with a kiss. He threw on his shirt – not bothering to button it up, and headed into the hall. She looked down at the screen on her phone, and read that it was her father calling.

"Hey, Admiral," She said, taking a deep breath as she went to follow him, and took his hand to lead him through the dark house.

"Did the house lose power?"

"Yeah," Olivia said, and she heard her father sigh heavily.

"The storm's worse than any of us thought it was going to be," He told her, "Did Fitz make it back from the marina?"

They made it into the kitchen, and she let go of Fitz's hand. He made a b-line to the cabinet and grabbed a flashlight, before grabbing another one and handing it to her. She sat down on a stool at the island in the kitchen, and then Fitz disappeared from her view. She put her elbow down on the counter, and rested her head in her hand – playing with her flashlight as she ran it around the room – wondering vaguely where Fitz had gone.

"Yeah, he's here," Olivia replied, and the Admiral sighed – was that relief?

"Good, have him run down to the basement, you need to turn on the water pump – it's on a generator," He told her, and she nodded.

"Fitz!" She called, and he popped right into the doorway, "There's a switch down in the basement that needs to be turned on, it's…"

"Orange, on the far wall," Her father said, and she relayed the message for him, "Is he behaving himself?"

"No," She teased, honestly – knowing her father wouldn't read much into it.

"Well, I'll have to talk to him about that," He replied, jokingly, then added, "But I am glad he's there with you."

Fitz came back up the stairs and disappeared again.

"Me too," Olivia replied.

"What're we going to do when he leaves next week?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I talked to your mom – she's just going to buckle down at your aunt's with Maya," He told her, "And I'm going to be here until morning."

"Ok," Olivia said, slipping off her stool – hoping that this conversation was not about to go where she thought it might.

"Alright, let me know if you need anything, ok?" He asked, "Try and leave the fridge and freezer closed, the power might be back soon enough not to spoil anything."

"Alright," She replied, she was now pacing around the kitchen.

"Alright, be safe, Liv."

"Bye, Admiral."

They hung up and Olivia set her phone down on the counter. She slipped out into the hallway with her flashlight and started to look around for Fitz. God only knew where he had gone, and what he was up to.

"Fitz?" She called, flashing the light into different rooms as she passed them, "Fitz?"

"I'm in here," Fitz called from the living room – and she took a sharp turn and went right in.

He had gone around the house and found candles, which were all lit around the room so that it was quasi-light out in the room. The coffee table had been pushed away to the side of the room, and he was lying on a blanket. He was in the middle of the room. She smiled as she went to join him – but stopped as she saw something that caught her eye out the window.

"What is it?" He asked, and he was up and behind her within seconds.

She could feel his hands on both her arms as she looked out at the backyard. The pool had what looked like a full tree in it – and that was nothing compared to the rest of the yard. About a third of the trees back there had fallen, and it wasn't even halfway through the storm. She turned back around and he pulled her close, leaning in and kissing her.

"What did your father want?"

"Just the switch," She replied, "And to tell me that no one would be home until tomorrow around nine."

"Oh?" He replied, leaning in and kissing her softly, "What a shame."

"Mmm," She said as he picked her up and carried her back over to the blanket.

Fitz set his phone alarm for eight before he fell asleep that night, and it woke them up like a charm. He put the blanket away – and they hid all the evidence of what had happened before heading upstairs to their rooms. The storm was mostly over, the sky was still dark, but in either case it would be strange and out of the ordinary if either of them were up that early. Olivia fell asleep in Fitz's sweatshirt, and woke up again a few hours later to the sound of voices downstairs. She got up, noticing the power was back, and took a shower. She got dressed, and headed down – she heard laughing.

"What's going on?" She asked, walking into the kitchen.

Her father was home, which was surprising – usually after a big storm it took a while for him to get back to the house. Maya was running around the house like she had cabin fever, and her mother was standing with her father in the kitchen, they were apparently talking to Fitz, who had also showered and dressed since she had last seen him. He was leaning against the wall, and she went right over to him – he wrapped an arm around her.

"Good morning," Fitz told her, taking her a little by surprise as he kissed the top of her head – not caring that her parents were right there.

"So how's it looking out there?" Olivia directed her question over at her father, and he just sort of shook his head.

"It's a mess," Her mother answered for him.

"I want to go down to the marina and see how it looks," She replied, and her father shrugged.

"I had to drive by it on the way home – there isn't much of it left."

"All the more reason I want to go see it," Olivia said, and then turned to Fitz, leaning up and kissing his cheek, "We can go for a walk down the boardwalk."

"Ok," He replied, somewhat sheepishly, letting her take his hand.

She led him out of the kitchen, and hopped right up into the front passenger's seat of the truck. He chuckled slightly as he slipped into the driver's seat, then leaned over and kissed her softly. They would have to be back soon – it would just be a quick trip. She wanted to see how it was down there – and who was starting to clean up. She couldn't imagine that all of the boats would still be intact – not the way that she heard the wind whipping around last night.

"I love you," He told her, turning the key in the ignition without looking – gazing into her eyes.

"You're amazing," She smiled, leaning in and kissing him again just before he had to straighten up to look out the back window.

She scooted over on the bench seat, right up on his side. She laid her head down on his shoulder, and smiled – leaning just enough over to kiss the side of his jaw as he drove. She grabbed hold of his arm, and he turned his head and kissed the side of it as he pulled into his usual parking spot – probably mostly out of habit.

"Ready?" He asked, going to get out of the car.

"I really only wanted to come because I needed to get out of the house," She told him, and he nodded, "I kind of just wanted to be alone with you again…"

"I got that," He replied, smiling as he leaned in and kissed her.

They walked around the car, and he wrapped his arm low around her waist as they headed towards the boardwalk. She threw both of her arms around him – and they sort of smiled as they realized that it was mostly deserted. The way that they were walking all wrapped around each other. They tripped up a little bit, and Fitz just stopped, and picked her up instead.

"Hey!" She just about shrieked, and he chuckled, kissing the site of her head as he walked with her out onto the boardwalk.

"You're really light, you know that right?" He chuckled as he leaned in and kissed her forehead.

"So what, you're just not going to let me walk anymore?" She teased and she chuckled.

"No," He said, "Just right now, because we would have fallen on our faces before we made it to the board walk the way we were going."

"Fine," She admitted, and he set her down with a kiss, "This place is a mess."

"You were expecting something a little cleaner?" He asked, taking her hand as they started to walk.

"No, not really," She replied, then spotted a couple of people walking the other way.

She felt Fitz stiffen up, even though she couldn't see who it was, she recognized their shapes. It was Paul, Mack, and Nate, and she changed directions, rather quickly. Fitz was a little hard to reroute, but eventually he simply just let her walk him out on the dock instead of up the boardwalk. For the most part – the dock was still intact, there were bits of it missing, but it still seemed somewhat structurally sound. It looked as if the smaller dock had been more fortunate than the bigger one, but there were still a few boats crashed up on shore.

"Awkward," She commented as they walked down the wooden way instead.

"What about that would have been awkward?" Fitz teased, slipping his hand from her hand to her hip to her ass – where she let him keep it.

"It just would have been," She replied, as they paused.

"Livy," He said, leaning in and kissing her, pulling her closer to him, "It's ok – it would have been fine."

There was something wrong again. He leaned in and kissed her again.

"You really don't like having me out here," She said, reaching up and running a hand through his hair, "Don't you?"

"Honestly, I don't," He replied, taking a deep breath.

"Relax, baby," She told him, leaning in and kissing him – and he smiled, "This is my town, remember?"

"My Dock," He replied, and she nodded.

"Well, technically," She said, motioning over to the name of the dock – which he hadn't noticed before.

'Grant Dock'

"How have I not noticed that?" He asked, and she shrugged as he leaned in and kissed her again.

"_ccccccccliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiickkkkkkkkkkkkk breuuuuaaaaaaa" _

"What was that?" She asked, and he looked up over her head.

"I don't know," He replied as they went to the edge and looked over.

She looked up and down the dock – then spotted them. There were two of them, semi floating in the water – stuck in an old fishing net. Two of the most beautiful creatures she had ever seen that close up. They were struggling, fighting to get out of the net – which was fastened to the side of the dock. One of them was a little limp, the other struggling, fighting the harsh and sharp rope of the net.

"Are those dolphins?!" Fitz sounded like he hadn't actually believed they existed outside of SeaWorld.

"Call the harbor master!" She said as she took off towards them up on the dock.


	17. Back Home

A/N: So while I was waiting between GMA (Love the messy) and The View (Please, sir – I'd like some more)…. Enjoy (If you can)…

American Prince

Chapter Seventeen: Back Home

Fitz rolled his eyes, yawning as he pulled himself out of bed. The summer in North Carolina had completely screwed up his normal sleeping schedule. Well, that and he couldn't sleep all too well. A racing mind kept him up until the wee hours of the morning, and he woke up fairly early, all set in a fisherman's routine. The only problem was, he wasn't waking up at seven to get up and ready to go out on a boat – at this point it was just for fun. Except it wasn't – at all. He missed Olivia, and the more he laid around, it was more and more mind rambling that was going to happen.

His heart was shattered, and he missed her like he was going to never see again. He could feel every part of his body like they were all at a loss – like they were shell shocked, and his brain was doing no better. He stood in his shower and let the water just about drown him. He wanted to get the shower over with, so he could call her – but he couldn't. It hurt too much, she had broken up with him. He could still see her angry tears streaming down her face – it had been his fault. He hadn't pushed to fix what was wrong, and she had stood there, crying, in the parking lot with a broken heart. And it had been his fault.

"Fitz? You're up?" His father popped his head into his room as he had just finished getting dressed.

"Yeah."

He had arrived home a couple days early, just because it was too hard to be there. It was too hard to be under the same roof as her – even if she was avoiding it for the most admiral had been very nice about it, much to Fitz's surprise. But he could see the pity in his face when he called Gerry, and told him himself that he thought that Fitz was just perfect to go home. That whatever they had tried to accomplish was done, and it would be best if he just went back home – only he said it in a way that made Gerry eat it right up. It was true of course, he was different – a lot different.

"Getting up for the boat still?"

"Yeah," Fitz replied, stretching a little bit, "Mind if I come into the office with you today?"

He knew already that he wasn't going to be ok sitting around the house. He couldn't do it, his brain was already mush – filled with thoughts of Olivia. His whole body ached for her, and in ways and places that he hadn't even realize could be effected by his emotions. He felt like he had been run over by a truck – only he was still intact. There was no physical evidence of how broken he was inside, which just didn't seem right. He felt like he was having the longest out of body experience that was ever actually not an out of body thing. Maybe it was just the shock – she couldn't really be gone? But then, she was.

"Yeah," Gerry replied, he looked even more taken aback than when he had seen that Fitz was awake, "You want to drive in? I think your little Porsche missed you. We kept up mantainance on it for you."

"No, I'm ok," Fitz replied – he didn't care enough to want to see anything, "I'll just grab a ride from your driver?"

"That's fine," Gerry gave him a little bit of a worried look, "He'll be here in a couple minutes – you should get something to eat."

"I'm not hungry," He nearly grumbled, and Gerry nodded.

"Ok, be down in the foyer in ten."

"Will do."

Fitz took a minute to straighten his collar in his mirror, and then took a deep breath. He grabbed his phone off the charger on his nightstand, hoping vain that he would have a text, a missed call – something from Olivia. His heart sank as he looked at the screen and there was nothing – he had known there would be nothing, but it still stung. He slipped it into his pocket, and then headed downstairs. He hadn't told anyone that he was back in town yet – because he didn't want to do anything. He knew he couldn't sit around the house – but he didn't want to do anything really. He figured if he went with his father he would set him up with something. What he really wanted was work – like he had done on the boat. Something that would keep his mind occupied.

"So Admiral Pope really put you straight, huh?" His father said as he appeared in kitchen – his laptop in a bag over his shoulder.

"Ah, yeah," Fitz replied quietly, not really wanting to get into it.

"So what was this about something with you and his daughter?"

"Nothing," Fitz lied, it couldn't be further from the truth – but he didn't want to get into it.

"Just a summer fling?" Gerry was trying, and Fitz could see it – but this was not when he should start.

"Something like that."

"Ok," He said, giving him a strange look, and Fitz nodded.

He had been wrong, about going into the office helping him. He had known that he was wrong the minute he sat down in the car. This would have a lot to do with the fact that it took about an hour to commute into the city – which meant that he would be sitting there torturing himself with the images of the past week. He would shift himself around, shake his head, and try to stop it – but there was no stopping it. Just like there was no stopping it when he was trying to fall asleep, and there was no stopping it when he closed his eyes just long enough to blink.

It would start with her walking down to pick him up for lunch – in that cute little outfit she had been wearing. Her hair bouncing just perfectly as she walked, and the way the sun hit her so perfectly. It would then turn into that night, when he was lying with her. When they were drifting in and out of sleep under the storm – watching it play out in the sky above them. The way she had kissed him – so that he could feel it everywhere. Then they were out on the board walk, and he wanted to shove what they had in Nate's face – funny now looking back at it. Even Nate had managed to hold onto her longer than he had.

These were the nice things – the things that were only in his head for about ten seconds. It got worse, much worse. The look on her face when she had seen the dolphins trapped in the water. The way she had wanted to jump in but he had stopped her – these weren't turtles, and they were panicking. The harbor master showing up with a rescue team. Then it turned dark – a dead dolphin on the beach, and the other one being loaded up to be taken to a wildlife rescue to be taken care of. Olivia crying, looking at the dead dolphin. He tried to comfort her – but she wouldn't let him. She took off towards the parking lot, and he chased her…

"Fitz, you want to come to the meeting?" His secretary – which he was surprised to find that he had, "Your father called over to see."

"I don't think so," Fitz replied, spinning his chair to get a clearer view of her, "Do you know if we have like a legal section in house? And where they would be?"

"I think they're on the sixth floor," She replied, and Fitz nodded, "Do you want me to schedule you a meeting with them?"

"No, do you have a copy of their schedule?" He asked, and she shook her head.

"I can get it," She replied, and he nodded.

"Please do."

Fitz leaned back in his chair – her voice echoing in his head.

"…_.I never believed it. I never believed that you were such a spoiled asshole until now. I don't even know what I saw in you. You're just another face they put on magazines. I thought you had more than that! I thought you – but you're just…I'm done. I can't even look at you…you've gone your whole life just not even caring, and no one expecting anything from you…And you would never take an responsibility for something you could have changed.. This is just as much on you as it is your father…" _

Tears were streaming down her face, and he was covered in salt water from trying to help the rescuers bring them towards shore. That was when he realized that the limper of the two was not going to make it. There were rope burns all over his face, and he knew that Olivia was going to be done with him. It was the second he saw his father's little logo on the net – and he was going to lose Livy over this. He was everything that she had always said she didn't want. He wasn't good enough, he wasn't enough – and now she was going to knew it. He was never going to get her back as long as he was the face of a company that killed dolphins – killed everything.

"Fitz, I have their schedule for you, it looks like they have a pretty much free morning if you just want to drop by..."

"Thanks," Fitz said, and he went to get up – Olivia had been right, he could do something – but his phone rang, "Hello?"

"In the office today?" It was Brad, and Fitz rolled his eyes.

"Yeah," Fitz replied.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were back?" He asked, and Fitz sighed heavily.

"I only got back last night," He replied, "And I was coming into the office today anyways."

"So do you want to come out tonight?" He asked, and Fitz tapped his pen –no.

"I don't think so," Fitz replied and Brad made a disappointed noise.

"C'mon, Fitzy – nothing crazy, just me you and chase getting hammered – in your backyard no less," He added the last bit hopefully – the word 'hammered' seemed to really appeal to him, "Your girl can't really turn her nose up at that, right?"

"Alright, maybe," He said – taking a deep breath, "I'll give you call later, maybe."

Or maybe he'd just get hammered on his own. That was more likely – much more likely. In fact, he had just made his decision.

"Bye, Fitzy."

"Bye, Brad."

Fitz hung the phone up and headed down to the sixth floor. She had been right, of course. It was just as much his fault, because he hadn't really done anything. He had power in the company, whether he knew it or not, that he hadn't used. He went down, and walked into their offices – and they all looked completely bewildered as he walked in. He found his way into the back, and found himself some kind of leverage that he could use to change the company's policies.

"Fitz?" One of the guys that had been over by one of the desks, "What – what're you doing down here?"

"Am I not allowed down here?" He asked, somewhat put off.

"No – you're allowed wherever you want…"

"Ok, so what's the problem?" Fitz asked, and the man looked like Fitz had been openly belligerent.

"Nothing, nothing, sir."

"What's your name?" Fitz asked him.

"Hank," He said, sort of seemed scared.

"Don't be scared," Fitz understood his confusion, "Maybe you could help me out with something?"

"Sure, what can I help you with?"

"I want to change some of the policies on the boats," He replied, and the lawyer nodded, "But I need a legal reason. My father won't change it unless I have a reason that's worth something."

"Ok, let's see what we can do…"

Fitz started pouring over the books – not entirely sure what he was looking for – a loophole. However, he just kept seeing Olivia standing on the beach with the dead dolphin – he couldn't do that. He wasn't sure that the dead dolphin on it's own would motivate him, he hoped that he would – but he knew it was Liv. He didn't want her to ever be that upset again, he wanted to fix it for her – he owed her that. He owed her enough, like that. If he could do anything for her – this was it. He knew that she would probably never be able to look him in the face again without wanting to hit him. He knew that, and it killed him – but he wanted to do this – for her. Because if their company changed the rule – others might too.

"Fitz, you been down here all day?" Gerry asked as he appeared in the doorway.

"Yeah," Fitz replied, running his hands through his hair, he was frustrated.

They had been pouring over the books for hours – not even really breaking for lunch. His stomach was growling, and he could barely see from all the reading, and Hank had long since put his glasses on top of his head instead of wearing them. He figured the prescription wasn't meant for that much reading. They hadn't found anything as of yet – but he was sure they could. They had only been through a portion of the codes.

"You been down here all day?"

"Yeah," said Fitz, standing up – checking his watch, "Is it time to go?"

"The offices closed an hour ago," He replied, and Fitz nodded, "I've been looking for you – and your secretary finally told me that you'd been down here."

"Ok," Fitz said as he got up, and grabbed the jacket to his suit and putting it back on.

"I'll keep working on this for you, if you want," Hank said, "Legal's here for another hour."

"Oh, you don't have to," He replied, settling his lapel, "Just keep everything out and we'll start up again in the morning."

"You're sure?"

"Fitz, you have to shoot and an interview for Forbes tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow afternoon then," Fitz said, and Hank nodded, "I want to do this, ok?"

"Of course, sir," Hank said, and Fitz nodded as he followed his father out of the room and towards the door.

Fitz threw his laptop bag over his shoulder as they walked, and he got the very distinct feeling that his father was a little prouder as he walked. He wondered if he would feel the same if he knew why.

"Wow, you're like a whole different person," Gerry said, and Fitz nodded as they climbed into the back of the car, "I should have sent you off to the Admiral years ago."

He didn't know about that.

"I think you sent me in plenty of time," Fitz replied.

"Quite the character that guy – huh?" Gerry replied and Fitz didn't make a move, "He's a little loopy – but apparently he got the job done."

There wasn't anything wrong with the Admiral – and he had very little to do with what had happened to him. He was the last person in that house that he would have to thank. Once they got home, he tried to avoid his mother. She had been in an interesting mood since he got home. She had been all excited to see him, and it sort of made him sick a little bit. She gave him a weird feeling – and he wasn't sure what it was – but he didn't really want to find out. He was only stuck there for another month – then he was back at his apartment in Boston. He wondered vaguely whether or not he could go to Boston earlier. He couldn't he had to do the thing for Olivia, and he was sure that he had a quasi-full schedule.

He sat down in the living room – it was a nice day outside, but he couldn't bring himself to go out. The pool would be usually where he drank – but he couldn't even look at the water. It didn't matter that it wasn't the same one, that she had never been in it, and likely wouldn't. He took a deep breath, he wanted her back. He wanted her there with him, he wanted to be able to hold her. He got up and poured himself a scotch, and downed it about as quickly as he could have possibly – pouring himself another one. He missed her, and he didn't know what to do.

His whole body felt like it had been beaten, and there was something missing. It had been missing for a while, but he had never noticed it before this. His phone rang across the room, and he knew it was Brad – he would be wanting to come over and drink with him – but he just wanted to be alone. So, he let it ring as he felt tears sting the back of his eyes – he hadn't cried yet. He wasn't sure it had really set in, but he was starting to feel it. He had daydreamed about Olivia stopping him from getting on the plane – but she hadn't. She'd let him go.

"Having a drink?" His father asked – the sun hadn't even gone down in the sky and Fitz couldn't remember how many he had had.

"Yeah," He said, sitting on the couch – leaning back – not really sure where his feet had ended up.

"Well don't get too messed up – don't want you to be hung over tomorrow."

He kept on walking through the room, and Fitz was sure he had already passed that point. He reached up and grabbed another beer, he had put a six pack onto the coffee table. He was done – he wasn't sure what he was going to do after he figured out the net issue – but he was going to figure it out. He couldn't live like this without her. He had made her fall for him once, God only knew how he did it, but he was going to do it again. It would take some time, he needed to let her cool off. But he would get there.


	18. Slips and Friends

A/N: Getting this to you guys as quickly as possible… loves :)

American Prince

Chapter Eighteen: Slips and Friends

Olivia stayed in her room all of Sunday. She could hear Fitz packing up his room down the hall – but she couldn't bring herself to go out to him. She couldn't bring herself to go out and make him stay. She could have – she loved him, She knew deep down that the whole mess with the dolphins wasn't his fault. She knew it, but she couldn't bring herself to go to him. To apologize. He would take her back, they would be happy. They would have, based on how good the sex apparently was, upwards of eight kids. They would have a big house and a white picket fence, and they would be happy. But that wasn't what she wanted, she couldn't have the life that she wanted with him. He was perfect, but at the same time he wasn't.

She wanted to be a environmental lawyer. She was going to go to Berkeley, and she was going to be the next biggest voice in helping out the environment. She couldn't do that with the heir to one of the biggest fishery empires – one of the most destructive, as well – as he boyfriend. As her husband? No. It just wouldn't work. She wanted to be out on boats making sure that penguins weren't getting caught in trash, and….and Dolphins weren't getting caught in thoughtless fisherman's nets. She had no doubt that if she went to Fitz, as he was packing up his room, she would be kissing that all goodbye. She had been kidding herself all summer – torturing, teasing herself.

She knew right there that she was choosing what she wanted to do over him. Her him. Like those even existed anymore. Fitz was the love of her life, and she knew as she heard him heading down the stairs and fell onto her bed that she was choosing work, and what she wanted to do over a chance at love. And she cried, silently, into her pillow – wrapping herself in one of the many of Fitz's sweatshirts – the door closed. She didn't trust herself to leave her room, to say good bye to him. He would forget about her soon enough, and he would be back to his partying ways. Would that make what she was doing ok? Would she be able to justify it if the next day she saw a picture online where he was draped in scantly clothed twins?

She waited until she heard her father's car back out of the driveway to bring him to the airport – then headed downstairs, a book under her arm. She had only a few days before she was being shipped off to Berekeley, and only a few days until Fitz would be back in Boston – at school. With all those girls, and it was her own fault that she was feeling like that, because she let him go. It was for the best – he could go off and do whatever he wanted, and she was free to do as she dreamed. Needless to say, it sounded better than it felt – and she had been spending most of her time down at the marine hospital, with Daisy - the injured dolphin. Keeping her eyes on the prize.

"Where are you going?" Her mother asked her as she tried to sneak through the kitchen with her book.

"I was going to head to the hospital – spend some time with Daisy," She said, tucking the book further under her arm as she reached for her car keys, "She's doing a lot better, actually. They're working on tracking a pod that'll be in the area soon so that they can release her."

"That's great," Her mother replied, and Olivia nodded.

"Why do I get the feeling you don't think it's great?"

"No, honey, about the dolphin, it's fine," She replied, "I was just sort of hoping that you were on your way to the airport to stop Fitz."

"Why would I do that? We're broken up," Olivia replied, and he mother nodded.

"Because you love him?"

"Except I don't," She lied, and her mother nodded along, having the decency to pretend she believed her, "I thought I might, but I don't."

"Ok," She replied, and took a deep breath, "Because you know there's no shame in loving someone like that, you know? That man, he would go to the moon for you – you've been hiding out so you wouldn't know, but he's been walking around like a zombie… worse than when he first got here…"

Pain. She couldn't think about this, she couldn't operate knowing that. There was a reason that she had been hiding out. She knew if she had seen him in the kind of pain that she was in – she would have folded. She would have fallen right into his arms and been whisked off into the land of sold out concerts, pretty sports cars, and mansions. That wasn't at all what she wanted. She wanted to do things, make a difference. She couldn't just sit around in a nice house and make love to Fitz all day – however tempting that seemed in the moment.

"Mom, I can't do this right now," Olivia said simply, and her mother nodded.

"Ok, understood," She said softly, and Olivia nodded.

"I'll probably be back for dinner," Olivia told her, keeping a good, strong face painted on her as she headed towards the garage.

"Ok, don't fall in, and become a dolphin too, ok?"

She didn't respond as the door to the garage shut behind her – and she saw the truck sitting in the far corner of the garage. It was going to have to go. She saw it and she saw flashes of things – things that were going to make giving Fitz up very hard. The ride back from the dock the day of the storm, the countless nights before that in which he had pressed her up against it, private nights – nights were he was playful and sweet. She had to fight the urge to call a tow truck to bring it away as she hopped into the Camry – which held possibly even worse memories.

It was a miracle that she was able to steer the car away from the way to the airport, and towards the marina. She pulled into the hospital, and parked into her usual spot, right next to the main doctor's. She got out of the car and grabbed the pass they given her to make sure that she was taken care of in getting in to see Daisy and help out. They were happy to let her help, which was great for her.

"Hey, you're here early," Dr. Lyman – Scott – said as she walked up to the edge of the pool.

Dr. Lyman was a guy in his late twenties. He had shaggy curly hair – dark that fell slightly into his eyes. He had a little bit of a beard, and he was dorky. He had thick rimmed glasses, and she was sure beneath his flannel shirt he was pretty well stacked. He was cute – exactly what she had assumed she would always end up with – and he was sweet.

"Fitz left this morning," She breathed, setting her book down at a table and lying down at the edge of the pool – Daisy lazily floated over to her – and she patted her head.

"Is that the boyfriend that was at the beach helping out?"

"Yes," Olivia didn't have the energy to reply properly as she leaned forward and kissed the dolphin, "He was also the son of the man who's net trapped Daisy here."

"Oh, that's not fun," He replied, and Olivia nodded.

"He kinda hit the dust," Olivia said, trying to seem on the bright side about it, and Scott nodded.

"Understandable," He nodded, and she sighed – at least someone understood.

"So you think she's almost ready to be released?" She asked, getting herself up – and Scott nodded.

"Yeah, the problem is finding the pod that we can release her to," he said, "We have a couple coming up this way – we'll just have to see."

"Oh," She replied.

"If we time it right, we can try releasing her to the first one – and the second one will be there in a day or so – so we can just facilitate her until the next one shows up," He said, "Say, you wanna come with us to release her?"

"What? Absolutely," Olivia replied, and he nodded.

"Well, we'll be going out two days from now," He said, "So, Thursday, you're still here, right?"

"That's the day before I leave," She said, going over to the side and putting some live fish in Daisy's pool – reminding her to hunt – which she did, well.

"Well that works out perfect then," Scott replied as he walked around and checked the filter on the edge of the pool, "Would you want to go out for something to eat with me when we leave here?"

"Um," Olivia took a deep breath, and Scott raised both hands in surrender.

"It's ok – I understand. Too soon, I'm sorry I asked," He said simply, giving her a little smile – that made her feel a little uneasy, like Fitz was going to burst through the wall behind her.

She would have liked Scott, in another life. But Fitz had ruined that. She couldn't get Fitz out of her head – and wasn't sure that she ever would. She didn't want anyone else, not even Scott who she was sure she would have if it weren't for Fitz. He was cute, dorky, everything she had gone for in the past. He was smart, careful, and into everything she was. On paper they would have been perfect. He would have taken her away from Nate – and they would have been happy. But she couldn't. She wanted Fitz, and maybe that would go away – but she had a feeling that it wouldn't.

When she was home she was packing and getting ready to go off to school, and when she was the marina hospital she was with Daisy. She was helping them retrain Daisy, and nurse her back to health. That was how she kept herself busy – because she knew if she stopped, even for a minute – she would call him. And as soon as that happened he would be back, and he would be there. Then there would be no getting rid of him, she would be absolutely defenseless – and she would be his. Just his.

"Good morning, Olivia," Scott said cheerily – he was a good guy, and didn't seem to be put off by being friend-zoned, almost like he was happy to be there.

"Morning," She said, dropping her phone into her dry bag so that she wouldn't be so tempted to call Fitz – she felt like if she gave herself a second she would.

"Ready to release a Daisy?"

"Sure," Olivia said, and he nodded as he led the way towards the boat, "Where is she?"

"We're going to have to take her out on the boat to meet up with the pod," He explained to her as they got on board – and he handed her a lifejacket, "We're letting her stay in her tank until the last possible moment –then there's a truck that's going to bring her out to the boat. Kind of like in Free Willy – with the hoses."

"Am I on hose duty?" She asked, and he nodded.

"I was hoping you wouldn't mind," He replied, "You look sad."

"I miss him."

"I can tell," Scott replied, "Maybe you should give him a call – when we get back. I'm sure he's in just as rough a shape as you."

"I don't want to call him," She replied, and Scott nodded.

"Well then that's your business," He replied, and Olivia nodded.

She took a seat, all the awful things she had said to Fitz running through her head as she sat and waited for the boat to be ready to go. She felt tears sting the back of her eyes – and she blinked quickly – yawning to keep them back. To reign in the sadness so that she wouldn't fall apart on the boat – and it worked. She looked out over the water as the people rushed around her – and all she could picture what Fitz. The way he had looked working out on the boat, the sun hitting his features, and the curve of the muscle in his arm. The spray of the sea in his face as she watched him from the beach. The way that they had sat out late at night and talked – well she mostly talked – about what she wanted. She wanted to call him – to tell him all the stuff about Daisy, and how she was on a boat going to release her.

She pulled her phone out and dialed his number – then stopped. She hit 'end call' about as quickly as she could, and then looked up as they were bringing Daisy aboard in her hammock of sorts. The sun was beating down on them, so the hoses started up – they only had a little bit of time. She dropped the phone back into her dry bag, and then got up to go to her post, spraying down a stream of water onto Daisy – to beat off the hot sun on their trip out. It was a little foggy, and it was threatening to rain – typical of hurricane season.

"It would actually be better if it rained," Scott said, seeing her apprehension looking up at the sky as he passed by her, "You give him a call? We could have used the extra muscle on the boat, we're not exactly known for having a lot of strength."

Olivia chuckled.

"Well at least it's humid," Olivia said, reaching into the water stream and stroking Daisy's soft flesh.

"Mmm," He replied, "Except it's foggy – we're going to have a hell of a time seeing the pod coming."

"Right," She replied, taking a deep breath as the boat started out – heading towards the deeper water – right into the middle of the pod's path.

Olivia sat down, still aiming the water over Daisy, and tried not to think – but she couldn't help it. She hated herself for what she had said to Fitz, she couldn't even believe some of the things that he come out of her mouth. She had been angry, mad – he had power, he was the owner's son, for Gods sakes, didn't he have a little bit of a voice? Or at least shouldn't he? She took a deep breath as the wind blew some of the water towards her – misting the water over her – but she didn't care. She took a deep breath and just let it get her – and Daisy made a couple clicking noises. That was what snapped her out of it, made her get up, and go and check on her.

"Is she ok?" Asked one of the women who was holding the tracker for the pod that was coming.

"She's fine," Olivia replied, patting just above her eye, "Aren't you sweetie? I'm gonna miss you, you know."

More clicking, and Olivia gave her a sad sort of smile.

"Talking to Dolphins now?" Scott chuckled as he walked over to check Daisy's fins.

"She looking ok?" Olivia asked him, and he nodded.

"She's doing very well – we're almost there anyways."

"Good," Olivia said, patting Daisy carefully, "Let's get Daisy back into the water."

"I still can't believe you picked Daisy," Scott said as he gently fastened a tracker to her dorsal fin.

"I was told I could name her whatever I want," Olivia replied, and Scott nodded.

"Yeah, that's what I said," He replied, "But mostly because you just looked so sad."

"The other one just died, on the beach," She replied and Scott nodded.

"I know, it's always sad – but it happens," Scott told her, "It's part of life. You can't tell the fisherman that they can't fish with nets – they've been doing it since who knows when. And you can't tell the dolphins that they can't swim that close to shore – it's a hazard of sharing the planet. Stuff like this though – the net getting left out in a hurricane – that's stupid things that we can get them to change, hopefully."

"How?"

"I submitted it to your father, actually," Scott continued, "Dolphins are protected down here – I'm trying to get there to be better regulations on the fishing boats."

"That would be nice," She replied, and he nodded.

"We're here!" Called the girl with the tracker, "Cut the engine!"

As soon as she shouted this – they went to work maneuvering Daisy's hammock into the ocean off the side of the boat. The waves were starting to pick up and Olivia kept the water on her until she was safely in the water – slipping out of the hammock and out into the water.

"Oh, now it rains," said one of the members of the crew as the sky opened up and it down-poured.

She was cold, almost instantly, it was one of those summer rains that wouldn't last long – more of a nuisance than anything else. It was just a problem for a bunch of people on an already crammed, and packed to capacity boat that also just happened to have to have machinery enough to lift a dolphin on it. The rain was morphing in with the waves, and they were picking up as everyone was racing around her to try and get to where they were supposed to be. She grabbed hold of the edge of the rail, and watched the horizon for the first sight of the pod.

It was probably one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen. Through the rain she could see the pod of dolphins leaping out of the water, only to dive right back down. With the levels of rain in the air, she couldn't imagine that the air was much different than the water to them. She smiled as the boat started to rock – the engine still cut off so that they wouldn't injure anyone. She tried to spot Daisy as she went out to meet the other dolphins – but in order to make sure she took off she had to lean over the side.

She kept a firm grip on the edge as the boat moved with the bigger waves, and the machinery was brought up – empty. She was squinting, trying to catch a glimpse of Daisy – she could see her starting to head away from the boat and towards joining the pod. She breathed a sigh of relief as she reached them, and joined them without an issue.

Olivia went to turn around, and slipped on the wet wooden deck underneath her. She fell, she could feel herself falling – hitting the ground, but then she kept going. She hit her head against the deck, and then fell overboard. She could feel herself hitting the water. She managed to keep herself up for a second – about to call to the boat as a wave washed up and threw her under – life jacket and all. Wave, after wave, until she could feel her head pounding from hitting it – and her lungs were about to explode. Then, as she bobbed up – she saw the boat much too far away for them to hear her. Then a wave – and darkness.


	19. Back to Something

A/N: So as chapter 18 didn't update properly…. Enjoy :)

American Prince

Chapter Nineteen: Back to…Something

It was done, and the kicker was that his father was actually somewhat proud of him. He wasn't sure how it had turned out that way – but it had. He thought maybe it was the fact that he had actually put his mind to doing something, for once. He had brought Hank with him to deliver the reports on how and why they should change the net protocols on the fishing boats – and how they could market themselves as greener than their competitors. This included charts and market research that went along with trying to convince someone that it was worth buying new nets more often. It was a hard sell, but he had been able to do it.

He was supposed to drive back to Boston the next day – well, he had made it so he was supposed to drive back that day. He told his mother something about having to go back earlier for some weird registration thing that he didn't want to handle over the phone. He only carried a small duffle bag between the house and the apartment in Boston. He walked out to the garage with it over his shoulder at about four a.m., completely unable to sleep. And, he noticed something sitting in the driveway. It was the brand new model from Ferrari, that hadn't even technically come out yet. It was silver, and the keys were sitting on the roof – holding down a note.

_Fitz – _

_We're proud of you, son, you've changed a lot this summer. It's all set for the road. Have fun and do well in Boston – last year of school!_

_~Mom and Dad_

He took a deep breath as he grabbed the key, opened the door – and started it up. He pushed the button for the roof to go down on it, before he dropped his bag into the backseat. He just about dropped into the front seat, and drove away from the compound. This was a much different reaction than he usually had when he got a new car. Usually, it was a hasty inspection, and a popping of the hood to see if they had changed how they designed their systems. However, he just couldn't find the energy or the will to care. He pulled out of the driveway – and headed for the highway.

The sooner he got to Boston – the sooner, hell – he didn't know. It was something to do, he wasn't sleeping, but driving – it would at least give him something to do. He blasted the new radio, somewhat impressed with the stereo system that they had managed to fit into such a small car. He sighed as he looked down at his phone – and there was nothing. For some reason he was still praying that Olivia would just give him a call. Once he was on the highway he scrolled through his contacts, hovering his finger over her name. He stopped himself, throwing it into the passenger's seat as he drove.

He forced himself into singing along with the radio as he drove, that was until he came into Albany, and he was about to make a turn to head towards Connecticut, when he saw a sign. It was one of those signs that he wasn't even sure why they put on the road – but it said '649 Miles to Raleigh, NC', which was only two hours from Liv. And it would be shorter if he went directly there. His mind was made up in an instant, so quickly that he couldn't even remember making a decision before he was on the exit ramp, and heading south.

He was in for a ten hour driving trip – but his classes didn't start until Monday, and Liv was leaving the next day. There was no way he was going to be able to get her back once she was at Berkeley. She would find some better than him, someone who cared about things that she cared about, and not just because she cared about them. He gripped the steering wheel as something in his gut just told him that he had to get down there. She would be leaving in the morning – and he had to see her. By the time she would be at Berkeley he would have lost her.

It didn't occur to him until he was crossing the border into Virginia that he started thinking about how awful his plan could go. He pulled over into a rest stop to go to the bathroom and get himself some coffee.

"What would you like?" The burista asked him as he got to the front of the line.

"The biggest black coffee you've got," He told her, and she nodded as she went to pour it for him.

What was the worst thing that could happen? Other than his bladder exploding from the huge coffee that he was about to pay for. She could laugh in his face, that wouldn't be so bad – at least he had tried. Sure he had just put God knows how many miles on a brand new car – but at least he tried. There was the chance that she already had someone else – that she had gone back to Nate. That would be bad – that would probably be enough to send him into a near catatonic state. Maybe he should just turn around and head back to Boston like a good boy – it was better not knowing, right?

By the time he was climbing back in the car, setting his coffee down in the cup holder, and he leaned back in his seat he was convinced he was just going to turn around and go home. His adrenaline had been racing for most of the ride – so he hadn't realized how tight the muscles in his legs were – or how much his back was starting to hurt from sitting. He tried stretching a little bit – trying to get it to feel a little bit better before he sighed heavily. He wanted Liv, he would do anything to have her back – but even driving down there was no guarantee that she would have him back – no matter how much he begged. She hadn't even talked to him in the few days between breaking up with him. He was about to start the car up again when his phone beeped to alert him to a missed call.

He picked it up, and his heart stopped as Olivia and his smiling faces was flashed up at him. They looked so happy in the picture that he had taken – them standing together in the backyard by the pool. She had then taken his phone, and set it as her photo ID for when she called him – saying she loved it way too much for it to just get lost in his phone – she had also sent it to herself. He smiled vaguely as he went to call her back – but it rang and rang and no one answered. But she had called him. She had called him. That was enough to keep him going – even if it was just a pocket dial, there had to be a reason that it had happened.

After another two and a half hours, his GPS yelling at him for going too fast several times, and stopping once for flowers he pulled into the driveway of an almost eerily quiet house. He pulled his car into the driveway and furrowed his brow – Abby was there. He would have preferred if she hadn't been – if maybe it was just Olivia, but he didn't really think too much of it as he got out of the car and stretched – a dozen red roses in hand. He took a deep breath – trying to work up the courage to go knock on the door. He had just driven almost eleven hours. He looked at his watch and it was almost two, on a Thursday. The camp was done – Olivia and Maya should have been there.

"Fitz!" He heard Maya before he saw her coming running out of the house – Abby following her, visibly upset.

"What's going on?" He asked, dropping the flowers in the front seat and catching Maya as she jumped on him – upon further inspection Maya was upset too.

"What're you doing here? Did you come because you heard?"

"Heard what?" Fitz had to admit that his ears were a little muffled because of his music being too loud all the way down, "What's up with you two? Where is everyone?"

Maya went quiet as he set her back down in the driveway. He looked over at Abby, and his heart sank right through his stomach – like he could feel it ripping the organ as it passed through. Abby looked as if she had been crying – or rather trying to keep tears back for Maya. His mind started racing through everything that could have happened in the couple of days since he had left – but all he could think was that it was Livy.

"They're down at the Marina," Abby choked out, starting to cry as Maya went and stood halfway behind her, "There was an accident."

"What?" Fitz heard himself say from some distance.

"The dolphin that was in the hospital – they went out to release her today," Abby said, "Liv named her Daisy, and they invited her to go along…."

Fitz started to zone out as she started explaining the details. He was waiting for the bomb to drop, he was waiting for the news. He didn't want to hear it, he wanted to shut his ears. He didn't hear anything past them inviting her to go along in more than a couple of words. Those were "Overboard", "Didn't notice", and "Missing." It was after the last one that he ran into the garage – pounding in the code for the door to open and ran to the truck – ripping the door open and starting it up, never more thankful that he had forgotten to take the key to it off his key chain. His mind was racing, not sure of what was going on – he couldn't lose her. Not like this. He needed her – he could feel tears starting to form in his eyes as he pulled into his normal parking spot. He forced himself to stop them. She couldn't be dead. It just couldn't be that way.

He got out of the car and ran towards the beach – where a crowd had gathered. There were a couple helicopters circling around – but God only knew how far they had had to go out in order to release the dolphin, and the currents out there. He ran across the board walk that was filled with news crews – daughter of the Governor lost at sea - and hopped the sea wall. Then, as he hit the sand he was lost – this couldn't be happening. This couldn't be his life? The love of his life missing somewhere out in the open ocean. He was frozen. He didn't know what to do, there were people running around everywhere and people in rescue suits jumping into little speedboats. He could see the Admiral, and Mrs. Pope clinging to him, and he made a b-line for them. He got closer to realize they were standing with a dark haired guy with glasses and one of the rescuers.

"Fitz," Mrs. Pope nearly shrieked as he walked up, he couldn't even speak as she detached herself from the admiral and he let her under his arm.

"I got to the house and Abby…" He trailed off, "She said… and I was on my way down… I was driving to school….and I just started heading down here…I wanted to get here before she left…"

"It's only been a couple of hours," the Admiral told him, and Fitz nodded, his jaw tightening as he tried to keep tears back – his heart almost leaping out of his chest, "We'll - find her - Fitz."

Find her. He didn't like that phrasing. He didn't like any of it. The words 'Find her' implied an outcome that he wasn't prepared for. An outcome that he wasn't about to let happen – and outcome that would not be bright, or shiny, or have any sort of silver lining. He needed her, and he needed her to be ok. He needed to find her – and if she wasn't – she had to be. He would make it so that she was ok, if he did anything that was what he was going to do. He blinked and got an image of her sinking through the water – then nearly glued his eyes open. No.

"We're sending out the last boat in a couple minutes," The head rescue worker told them, and Fitz brought his head up.

"I'm going with you," He said, not giving him any choice in the matter.

"Me too," said the curly haired man, and the man nodded.

"Alright – come with me then," He said, and Fitz followed him over to the edge of the water – where he handed each of them red life jackets.

"C'mon, there should be just enough room in the boat for you two," He said, "You can help us look – it'll be more helpful for people who know her to be able to spot her. I don't know why, but sometimes it just works like that. What're your names?"

Fitz followed him onto the boat like it was just another section of the dock, but they paused so that the curly haired, somewhat dorky man could scramble on.

"I'm Scott, I was the main researcher on the boat, and the one who asked her to come along," He said, and the head-guy nodded – then looked to Fitz expectantly.

"I'm Fitz," He said, then paused, wondering how to state his relationship with her and he swallowed, "I'm..."

"She's his girl," Scott piped up, and Fitz just let that be.

"Ok, you two stay towards the back of the boat, ok?"

"Yeah," Scott answered for both of them as they wandered back there, "I hope you didn't mind me answering for you – I've spent almost a week with her in the hospital, she was helping me get Daisy's health back up."

"Yeah," Fitz didn't doubt it as he leaned against the rail – looking out over the ocean, desperately.

"I was actually there on the beach when it all happened," Scott replied, and Fitz wasn't sure why Scott was still talking – but he didn't want to waste the energy he could use looking to stop him, "I talk when I'm nervous."

Well that explained that. He looked out over the water as the boat took off from the dock – getting about a fourth of what Scott was rambling off in his ear. It was mostly just him saying over and over that he was looking for Liv on the boat, and how he couldn't find her. There had been some sort of small storm – and judging by the sky Fitz didn't doubt it.

"Livy!" He called, hearing his voice echo emptily around him, breathing, "C'mon, Liv. Don't leave me like this."

After they had been moving for a while, Fitz made his way to the bow – to get the first look at the new areas as they came into them. One of the searchers handed him a pair of binoculars. It seemed like it had been hours, and it seemed like it had only been a mere matter of seconds all at the same time. It was a blur, like the dark ones that he kept closing in on with his sights. He thought he had seen her a couple times- but each time it was just a shadow, or a trick of the light. It was starting to get dark – and he was really starting to worry. It had been hours – where was she? What if this was really the end? There were no take backs? He took a deep breath of salty air as the spotlight flashed over something quick in the water. It looked – yellow.

"Stop!" He called, pointing to the spot in the water where it had just been pointing, "Put the light back!"

The man up on the platform of the boat brought it back to where he was pointing, and he saw her. The lifejacket was bright yellow, and she was floating, bobbing up and down in the waves. As soon as she registered in his brain he dropped the binoculars, not sure where they had gone – and dove into the water off the front bow. He had misjudged how big the boat was as he hit the water and his head screamed like he had hit something almost solid. He didn't care.

His lifejacket helped bring him back up to the surface and he took off swimming, as fast as he could towards where the light was still shining. The water sloshed around in his ears – and the waves tried to throw him off course. He kept thinking that he wouldn't get there – that somehow she kept getting further and further away from him, Then finally as he brought his arm back down into the water, he hit something solid, that bobbed under the water for a minute before popping back up. He stopped, tredding water as he managed to get her into his arms, unconscious. He couldn't stop to see if she had a pulse, or if she was breathing – but he could feel it, that she was.

The boat was heading over towards them, but he started swimming, dragging her dead weight through the water. They threw a rope and a net like thing over the back of the boat, and he swam over to it. He placed Olivia into the net for them to haul up. His head was starting to get to him, and he felt like his heart was about to explode if it kept beating as hard as it was. He was exhausted – the distance to her must have been much longer than he had thought – and he didn't have enough strength to climb up the rope. He grabbed onto it so that he wouldn't drift away too far. He could feel his adrenaline starting to fade.

The water rose up behind him, he could feel the water around his neck. Then his face was hitting something hard, and he could taste blood. He tried to swim away from the side of the boat – but was hit again by another wave. Crashing him into the propeller, which was off – but he could feel the metal sink into his leg, another wave – darker than the water should have been - crashing his head into the metal hull of the ship.


	20. Fishery Fails

A/N: Sniffle sniffle, my poor little shipper heart is absolutely broken :( it was ripped right from us, guys - :,( It might take me a while to recover from that… luckily I had most of this already written… Enjoy….

American Prince

Chapter Twenty: Fishery Fails

She didn't know where she was – her vision was blurry and it was bright. She couldn't see straight, and some of the figures that were standing around her had doubles. She blinked, hoping that it would largely go away – and it did. She coughed, and she feel hands on her back, pushing her forward so that she was at a better angle, and she was able to breath a little bit better. She felt water logged, and she could feel the bed that she was lying in moving underneath her and then the hands were gone. Her vision was clearing up. She was in a hospital room – and it had been her father's hands. He and her mother were standing on the side of her bed – she reached up and touched an oxygen line that was feeding into her nose.

She tried to rip it out.

"Honey, stop," Her mother said, grabbing her hand before she got to pull out, "Your lungs aren't all that strong right now – they're going to need help."

She made a face – her throat felt dry, she wasn't sure she could talk. But she had to try.

"What happened?" She breathed out a little raspy.

"Here's some water," Her father handed her a cup of water, "Sit up a little more – make sure it goes down the right pipe."

"What's going on?" She asked as her mother sat down in a chair by her bed – and took her hand.

"How are you feeling?" Her mother asked her, "Are you comfortable? Is there anything we can get you, anything at all?"

"I'm ok," Olivia replied, hoping that she really was, "I'm fine. But what aren't you and dad telling me?"

"Honey, you need to relax," The Admiral was trying his hand as he sat down on the edge of her bed, "You're weak, and you need to calm yourself down."

"Dad…"

"Sweetie," Her mother said, trying to lean in a little further, "You fell off the boat, when you were bringing Daisy out."

"I remember that," She replied, and her mother nodded, quietly.

"Well, it took us a couple hours to find you," Her mother continued, and Olivia nodded, "And when we did, Fitz had gotten here – he was driving down to try and talk to you before you left."

She didn't like it. The solemn looks on both of her parents faces – her stomach flipped over and her heart sank. No.

"No."

"He went out on the boat with the rescue team," Her mom continued – she was starting to tear up.

"No, Mom…NO."

"He's the one who spotted you in the water," She told her, like she thought that what was coming next was something that she needed to hear – it wasn't, "And he jumped off the side to swim out and get you. You were unconscious – and he swam you back to the boat. The team on the boat said he put you on the little lift that they had thrown over the side."

He paused – Olivia didn't want to know what had happened next. She took it back – she didn't want to know what was going on.

"Apparently he grabbed onto a rope –" She broke off, a few tears rolling down her cheeks, and Olivia started crying.

"Stop," She told her mother, and he mother shook her head.

"The waves bashed him up pretty bad, against the side of the boat," She said, as Olivia just started to bawl, "When they pulled him out of the water he was still conscious – but he lost a lot of blood, and -"

"Mom."

"He's in ICU," Her mom told her, and Olivia nodded – taking a deep breath of air that she didn't even know she had been keeping in, "He's in a coma. The doctors, they're not very hopeful."

"Where is he? Bring me to him," She said instantly, and her parents just sort of looked at each other.

"Liv, you hurt your head pretty badly," The Admiral tried to take over, "You have a very severe concussion, and they want you to stay in bed – at least for the night."

"You're telling me that he could die," Olivia said, and her parents exchanged looks again.

"He won't tonight," The Admiral said, "The doctors have him stabilized. He's just lost a lot of blood, if they hadn't got him out of the water when they did…"

"I need to see him," Olivia replied, and her mother shook her head.

"Liv, he's in really tough shape, ok?" She said, "He's bruised and he's weak, and he's not even conscious. If he had woken up…"

"Mom."

"Liv, you're not in the best shape yourself," Her father told her, "And it's going to be upsetting for you to see him – the way that he is."

"The way that he is?" Olivia repeated, and her parents nodded.

"Your doctors seem to think it would be best for both of you if you just got some rest and went in to see him in the morning," Her father told her.

"They're going to wake me up how often?"

"Every hour," Her mother told her – and Olivia nodded.

"Well tell them not to bother, because there's no way I'm going to be able to sleep," She said, and her mother nodded, reaching up and clearing some of the hair that was pressed down to her forehead.

"You're on a lot of painkillers," The Admiral told her, "You'll get sleepier faster than you know."

"But who's with him?" Olivia asked, and the admiral took a breath, "Who's sitting with him?"

"I called his father as soon as it happened," The Admiral replied, taking a seat, "Both of his parents got here about an hour and a half ago. He was in surgery until then."

This wasn't all that comforting. Fitz hated his parents. Well, he didn't hate them, but he sure as well didn't really enjoy their company. Besides, based on their conversations she was all too aware that they weren't the warmest, or the fuzziest of people. Fitz, in whatever shape he was in, needed someone who loved him. And not in some convoluted or

"Surgery?"

"He had a brain bleed that was pretty bad, and he tore his leg up pretty close to an artery. He also had internal bleeding, up near his lung. They think they caught everything – he's just very, very, weak. And they don't expect him to wake up – very soon. The nurses are instructed to come and tell of us if something happens and it starts to go south – we'll be able to get you in there."

"But they're not hopeful," Olivia repeated what was said before, and they nodded – she was going to be sick.

"Honey, do you want to take something to help you sleep?" Her mother asked, and she shook her head.

As she had predicted, it was as she expected, not at all helpful getting checked on by the nurses every hour, on the hour. It was like sleeping in a zoo-cage, and she didn't like it a bit. She watched as her mother fell asleep, and then her father over in the corner in a reclining hospital chair. She wondered for a minute how far away the ICU was, if she could get there. She wondered if she could find him – but her thought process was stopped as a nurse walked in. She was the same one that had been checking in on her all night – with a cheery smile.

"Still up, sweetie?" She asked, checking her vitals, and shining a light in her eyes.

"I need to see him," Olivia said, and the nurse made a little bit of a face, "How's he doing?"

"He's doing," She replied, and Olivia rolled her eyes, "You're not going to go to sleep until you see him, are you?"

"No."

"Ok, I'll make a deal with you," She told her, "We'll put you in a wheelchair, and I'll wheel you down. You can stay with him for five minutes – and then you're coming back here and going to sleep, deal?"

"Deal," Olivia whispered, and the nurse nodded as she very quietly wheeled the chair over to the edge of her bed.

Within a few minutes Olivia was sitting in the wheelchair, a blanket over her legs, and her oxygen tank that her nurse refused to let her leave the room without. She took a deep breath and she could feel her lungs working for the air. Maybe her parents had been right – that she wasn't strong enough to see him like this. She took a deep breath,

No. He had jumped into the ocean and saved her life, but putting aside any of that, she loved him. She loved him, and he needed her. That was it, that was all she needed to know.

"Honey, I'm going to warn you as to what you're going to see, ok?" She said, pausing just outside of a room in the ICU – Olivia couldn't see in.

"Ok," Olivia breathed.

"His head is all wrapped up in bandages, so you won't see much up there – but his face is swollen, pretty badly," She said, and Olivia nodded, "He's got a metal brace on his nose, because it was broken, and a big oxygen mask over that. He wasn't as fortunate as you as to just get the nose piece. He's stiff – he's not going to look like you're expecting him to. He's really pale, and where he's not about as white as a ghost, he's bruised up. A whole lot of colors that he shouldn't be. His leg's pretty torn up, but it's under the blanket so you won't see it just yet. He's got a broken arm, his shoulder was dislocated, but they already popped it back for him. His arm is in a soft cast, we're waiting for it to go down a little bit."

"So basically he's a wreck," Olivia replied, and she nodded, "Can you put me on whichever side is less broken?"

"Of course," She replied, "His parents are sleeping behind the other curtain, I'll leave you in there a few minutes with him, ok? But you have to promise to call for me if you need me, ok?"

"Alright," Olivia replied simply as the nurse rolled her into the room, careful to be quiet as she wheeled him up to her left side, "Oh my…"

"You ok, Sweetie?" She asked, and Olivia nodded solemnly as she reached through the bars and took his slightly swollen hand.

"I'm ok," She breathed and the nurse walked out of the room.

"I'll be right out in the hall, honey," She said and walked out into the hall.

Olivia looked over at Fitz – lying in his bed – almost ruined. His heart monitor was beeping, slow and steady. Steady, that was good – but in the silence it filled the whole room. The nurse hadn't been lying, he was a big puffy, ridiculous mess. How had this happened? How had her beautiful, gorgeous, smart, friendly, loving Fitz turned into this? Had she done this? She had broken his heart, she had known that. He had come back for her – after all that crap she had said to him in the parking lot – he had driven down? Driven? From New York?

"Fitz," She breathed – feeling ridiculous, he couldn't hear her, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I put you here, and I'm sorry for all those things that I said. I guess I can just sort of think of this as practice, for when you actually wake up so I can apologize for real."

She paused for a moment, letting the machines take back over the sound in the room. She could hear his parents, that she had never met snoring behind the curtain in the other half of the room. Then she looked back at Fitz – as hard as it was to see him like that. She wanted to hug him, she wanted to hold him, and make sure that he was going to be ok. She wanted to run her fingers through his hair, feel his arms around her. She made her way up to a standing position. She was weaker than she had expected to be, but she clung to the edge of his bed and leaned over him – kissing his forehead.

"I love you, Fitz," She said weakly, wishing there was a better way to put it as she sank back into the wheel chair – giving his hand a squeeze, "You have to wake up, you have to get better. I need to hear you again, feel the way you look at me."

She sat there, in silence, her hand wrapped around his until her nurse came back into the room and started to wheel her away from him. She let go of his hand, slowly – and was wheeled out of the room – she could feel herself start to feel tired – she just about out by the time they got back to her room, and her nurse had to basically lift her back into her bed – whispering something about it being a good thing that she was so tiny. Olivia didn't know what time it was when she fell asleep – but in the morning she didn't remember the nurses waking her up. She had a feeling they didn't.

"Liv?" She heard her mother first, and she looked around for her.

"Fitz," She said, "I want Fitz."

The little bit of sleep that she had gotten had made her a little bit stronger – and she could feel that. Her head was almost fully back to normal, and she wasn't really all that confused. She was weak still, and she knew the trip to Fitz's room had probably not helped, but it had been necessary. She reached down and tried to help her legs along as she scooted herself up in bed and her mom pushed a breakfast tray in front of her.

"Eat something first, kiddo," Her father said, "Then we'll get you into a chair and take you down there."

"I'm not hungry," She told him, and he nodded as her mother grabbed the muffin off of her plate.

"Here," She said, wrapping it up in a napkin and handing it to her, "Just take this with you, ok?"

"Fine," Olivia mumbled, as a nurse came in to help get her into her wheelchair.

It wasn't the same nurse, so Olivia just sort of sat there. The nurse transferred all the things that she would need with her, and fastened them to the back of the chair before her father simply picked her up placed her into the chair. Then the nurse left and her mother went behind the wheelchair. She didn't know what to think – how to play this off. There would be no renacting the expression on her face when she first saw Fitz the night before, which she could only imagine as a mixture of shock, and horror. So she decided to play it off as just being in shock. They stopped her at the end of the hall to explain his condition a little better to her.

As the nurse explained it, almost the exact same as the nurse the night before, she wondered why they did that. Were they afraid like her parents that she wasn't at all ready to see him like that? That she might faint, or collapse, or whatever they were frightened of her doing when she saw Fitz because of the way that he was. Granted, if she hadn't been warned so thoroughly before she saw him, she could have guessed that her reaction might have been along those same lines – so maybe they had a reason. She nodded once the nurse had finished talking, making it seem like she had been paying attention.

This was not the way that she had ever expected to be meeting Fitz's parents. She had imagined that it would be at some party, and she would be wearing some sort of fancy gown – and he would introduce them. He would tell them all about her, like she knew that he ordinarily wouldn't. She guessed that was a good thing, that she knew that they would know very little, if anything about her. It didn't really matter – she just wanted to get to Fitz.

"Can you roll me onto his less injured side?"

"Of course, Dearie," said the older nurse, and she rolled her in – her mother and father following slowly behind.

It was a good thing Fitz had a big room, a VIP room, it had to be. She hadn't been entirely sure they had those in the ICU, but if anyone would have gotten one, it would have been him. The beeping from his monitor was still just as deafening in the morning as it had been the night before. Olivia didn't even really notice his mother, sitting on the other side of the bed as she reached through the side railing of the bed and took his hand.

"Fitz," She breathed, looking up at him.

"Where's Gerry?" Her father asked his mother, and she shrugged.

"He had to get back to work this morning," She replied, and Olivia had to fight the levels of anger – the Nurse was just looking at the monitor – in surprise.

This was his son, lying in this bed, completely helpless and trying desperately to recover, and he had work? She tried to remind herself of what her father had always said – about people grieving, and people dealing with things in their own way. She knew that Gerry was a workaholic, she had gotten that from her conversations with Fitz, about how he never wanted to be like his father. The random women, the long nights – if it even was work that he was doing. She ran her fingers across the back of Fitz's hand.

"He's doing better this morning," The nurse said, "I thought we were going to lose him last night."

"What?" Olivia breathed.

"It was a little rough last night – around four am," His mother told her, "He coded, but they were able to resisitate him."

Olivia wasn't sure what time she had been taken to see him, but she knew it was before then. She took a deep breath, and held onto his hand a little firmer.

"You can stay until your doctor wants to come and check you out," The nurse informed Olivia, and she nodded somewhat solemnly.

He didn't get to leave her like this. This was not ok, she was not supposed to be the one that was ok. He had jumped in to save her – she thought in giving him up that he would be safe. He would go back to his old lifestyle, albeit she had hoped that his drunk driving occurances would go down, but that he would be ok. Not that he would go chasing after her and get himself almost killed doing it. She could feel hot tears starting to roll down her cheek as the nurse sat down in the corner to observe, probably both of them.

"Oh, Sweetie," Her mother said, reaching into her purse and handing Olivia a tissue.

She took it and started to wipe off her face, dropping Fitz's hand momentarily to fix her hair, to throw it back up into a ponytail.

"Wait," The nurse said, and Olivia froze.

"What?"

"Pick his hand up again."

Olivia did, and the nurse just looked at the monitors for a minute or two – the rest of them all silent.

"And let go of it?"

She did, bringing her hand back into her lap and the nurse gave a weird expression.

"That's strange – I've never seen something like that before."

"What?" Olivia asked for everyone else in the room.

"He knows you're here," She replied simply, "His heartbeat was really weak when you came into the room, but then it was up. Then, when you let go it goes down a little bit."

"He's in a coma," Olivia replied, "He can't…"

"But he does," The Nurse said, "Take his hand again."

Olivia froze up a little bit, then looked over at the monitor before slipping her hand around Fitz's. Sure enough, very slowly it increased into a statistic on the side that had the numbers. The flow was less irregular, it was more constant, and the lines on his heart monitor weren't going as crazy as they had been. It was a slow process, but it had happened.

"He knows you're here," The nurse repeated, "At least on some level."


	21. Stop and Go

A/N: So I lied, and said I'd do When You're Through first – but then I just didn't want to. So, here is your final installment of American Prince…. Be on the look out in the next couple days for the Sequel with a name that keeps changing – Enjoy

American Prince

Chapter Twenty-One: Stop and Go

He was lying on the beach, it was by the pier – but he couldn't see everything. It was clean, he knew that, but he wasn't entirely sure how that was possible. The beach that he remembered by the piers was filthy, dirty – no matter how much Olivia had tried to clean so desperately, but it was never going to shine he assumed that it had once – like it was right then when he was lying there. It was bright, so that was why he couldn't see much. It was like everything around him was shot on over exposed film. Like his eyes were letting in too much light. He looked around a little bit – then he would rest, sleep. Olivia was there too – or she was sometimes. She would just lay next to him in the sand for a while – but then she would disappear, and he didn't know where she went. He did know that for some reason the sun seemed closer to him when she was gone rather than when she was there.

"Why do you keep leaving?" He asked her once she came back, and she rolled onto her side – kissing him on the forehead sweetly.

"I don't belong here, Fitz," She told him softly, unapologetically as he kissed her – something about it felt wrong about it – again, he couldn't put a finger on what it was.

"You don't belong where?" He tried to tease her a little bit, "It's beautiful here, Liv. Where else are we supposed to be?"

"School," She said, "You're supposed to be in Boston, I'm supposed to be in California."

"That's much too far away," He replied, pulling her tighter – or at least she moved closer to him, "I love you."

"I can't stay here," She said, somewhat dreamily, "Neither can you."

"Why not?" He asked, and she took a deep breath.

"Because we have to do things, go places," She said, "Grow old together. You have to wake up."

"I'm awake."

"No, you're not."

"Stay with me," He said as she was starting fade out, "Livy, stay."

"I can't stay here, Fitz," She said, and he furrowed his brow.

"Liv," He called, but she was gone, "Livy!"

The sun was getting impossibly closer. There was no way that it could be that close without burning him – but then he felt it – a jolt. There was screaming, a girl – a woman – Liv. His livy was screaming, and he was lying in the dark. He forced his eyes open – and realized that he was gasping for air. He could feel a mask on his face, and people running around him. He couldn't move, not really – he felt like his whole body had fallen asleep. He jerked to the side, mostly to prove to himself that he could as Olivia appeared by his side.

"Fitz," She crouched down and made eye contact with him, "Fitz, you have to stay with me, ok?"

"Liv," He tried to say, but he could hear it, it didn't sound like that.

"Baby," She reached over and soothed his hair, "Calm down, I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here, calm down. It's ok, we've got you. Baby, shhh, it's ok…"

He tried to take a deep breath – and felt a piercing pain right through his chest. He winced, and Olivia gave him a concerned look, she was in a wheelchair, but she was in plain clothes. It took him a few minutes to calm down. He gave her his hand, and she held it tight. Ordinarily he would have teased her about it, but he didn't have the energy, or the will to. He wanted her there – as close as possible. But as soon as the nurses and doctors came running in he was whisked off into tests and things – and ripped away from Olivia.

He went through all the tests and didn't really say anything – he didn't need to, because he didn't want to. They put him through an MRI, checked, double checked, and rechecked his vitals. They told him, and retold him the extent of his injuries – and that was that. They let him get rid of his oxygen mask, and the ridiculous metal thing that had been on his nose, so that was nice. But it was hours before he was brought to his new room – he wasn't sure how he knew this. However there was the fact that when they wheeled him, in his bed, into the room, everyone was gone. Except Olivia. She was sitting on the chair by the side of where his bed was placed.

"You're ok?" He checked as the nurses disappeared out of the door, and Olivia nodded.

"I don't think I'll be swimming in the ocean anytime soon, but I'm fine."

"Thank God," He replied as she took his good hand, "How are you better faster than me?"

"Fitz, you were in a coma for almost a week," She told him, "I've been here – well, I got here as soon as they let me get out of my own bed."

"You're ok, though?" He asked her and she nodded as he shakily brought her hand up to his mouth and brushed the back of it against his lips.

"I'm fine."

"You scared the shit out of me."

"I scared the shit out of you?" She asked, "Baby, you coded, your heart literally stopped beating like three days in a row –not including the night before I was officially let in to see you - while I was sitting with you. The doctors said you were stronger when I was in the room – but still."

"I'm sorry," He breathed, he was exhausted – how was he so exhausted, he'd been sleeping for a week, and he'd only been up a few hours.

"No - I'm sorry," She told him, scooting over and combing her fingers through his hair, "All those things I said to you – they've been on a loop in my head. I can't believe I said that stuff to you. You…"

"Don't," He stopped her, "It's ok – and while it was incredibly painful, it wasn't like it wasn't at least a little bit true."

"I didn't mean it," She replied, "I was angry."

"I know," He told her, "I was too."

"I love you, so much," She replied, and he gave her a little smile.

"I know."

"You know?"

"If we're going to have a battle over who loves who more, I think I win – by default," He replied, motioning around his room with his now newly casted arm, "You broke up with me, screamed at me and called me names – and I jumped into the ocean and was nearly killed to save you. I think I made my point. If that doesn't prove that I love you I don't know what does – now you want me to say it too?"

He watched her for her reaction. He knew what it should be, a sarcastic comment right back. Something quick, funny, witty. But he got the feeling that wasn't what he was about to get in return. Instead, she took a deep breath and sighed, leaning down and pecking the back of his hand as she held it.

"I deserved that," She replied dismissively, and Fitz sighed – that wasn't what he wanted.

"No you didn't," Fitz replied, "You couldn't have known – I couldn't have known. Even if I had known what was going to happen – I still would have jumped off of that damned boat and gone to get you."

"That's not really all that comforting," She replied, and he tried to slide himself over, which he was able to do without too much pain – thank God for drugs.

"Come up here with me," He told her.

"Are you crazy? No. You're all broken – I'll hurt you."

"Livy, you weigh about a hundred pounds soaking wet," He reminded her, "There's no way you're going to be able to hurt me any more than I already am – we'll be careful, promise."

"Fitz, I appreciate you wanting to snuggle – but we can't."

"Why not?"

"Well, for starters: You just got out of the ICU."

"But I'm not in the ICU anymore."

"You're leg's still all bandaged up."

"What? You're squeamish?"

"I might mess it up," She replied and he rolled his eyes.

"So come on the other side."

"Your arm."

"It's casted," He replied, and she just sighed – he looked out into the hallway, "What? Your parents aren't still here, are they?"

"Your mom left while they were running tests."

"I'm not surprised."

"My parents took off once the doctors said that you were coming back down, and they were moving you off the ICU floor."

"That was nice of them to stick around for as long as they did," He replied, and Olivia nodded, "Do I have any more tests tonight?"

"No," Olivia replied, "You woke up while they were shocking you."

He heard a note in her voice that he didn't usually hear when she spoke – and immediately slipped himself over to the side of the bed, patting the side of the bed next to his uninjured leg. It was fear. She was scared, she had been scared to lose him – and he understood the feeling, completely. He wanted to comfort her, to let her hold onto him so that she would know that he wasn't going anywhere. He was solid, he was breathing fine without a mask, and his reaction time was a little slow – and his vision wasn't exactly back to what it would normally be. His leg was pretty mangled, just up on his thigh – but he would work on that. He was weak, but he was there – and he wasn't going to stop breathing again.

"Livy, c'mere, please?" He wasn't really asking – and he muttered it in just over a whisper, "I'm exhausted. Please just let me hold you – as best I can with this stupid thing on my arm."

This was the direction that she finally gave in to, and he wondered if it had anything to do with his tone. It was similar to how he had always made a point of speaking with her in particularly romantic settings – soft, but careful. He watched as she walked around the bed, marveling at everything from the way she walked to the way that her hair bounced up and down as she walked. His heart beat just a little louder in his chest, and he put his arm up – wincing slightly at the twinge of pain in his shoulder as she climbed up on the bed with him.

"Am I hurting you?" She asked as she put her arm across his middle, and set her head down on his chest – he put his casted arm around her.

"Livy, you could never hurt me with something like this," He told her, craning his neck to lean down and kiss the top of her head.

"Are you sure?" She asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah," He breathed, "This way, you can fall asleep knowing that my heart is still beating – and I promise you it's not going to stop again, not any time soon."

"You don't get to leave me like that, ok?" She said, and he chuckled a little bit.

"Ditto."

"Ok," She replied, turning her head up and looking at him.

"Livy?"

"Yes?"

"I love you, beautiful, crazy, amazing woman that you are," He told her, "And you can yell and scream, and throw as many fits as you want. I'll still be pulling you out of the water – no matter how many times you get mad and shout and scream. You can try to push me away all you want, but I am always going to love you. In love with you. I'm here for this – Us. So basically, what I'm completely failing to explain to you is this: you can do all that stuff as much as you want – but I'm not going to go anywhere."

"I don't think you'll really have to worry about that," She replied, and he nodded.

"That would be nice," He replied – and she nodded, nuzzling her face into his chest.

"I love you, and I am so sorry about how I treated you," She said, leaning up and kissing his briefly on the lips – a quick brush, "How I had been treating you."

"It's ok," He told her, sleepily, "I like I said, I'm not going anywhere, ok? But right now, I need some sleep."

She pressed the side of her face gently into his chest, and she reached up to run her fingers through the side of his hair. He closed his eyes, letting her sooth him right off into a much needed sleep, all with the little bit of pressure from the side of her body on his. It was comforting, like the best sort of security blanket that could ever possibly exist. It made everything worth it, he would much rather have a mangled leg and lost a week of his life than lost Olivia. He didn't know what he would have done if he had lost her – but he was sure he would be in much rougher shape than a stitched up thigh and a little scar on his head that would eventually be covered with his hair.

Olivia stayed in the hospital with him until he was discharged. She was there every day, the nurses started to bring him two of every meal so that she would eat too. She left the room only to shower – which he never let her get away with doing without teasing her mercilessly. She smiled – he could tell that that was how she was gaging how he was feeling - which was getting increasingly better.

"Livy, you should just bring me in there with you," He teased her as she gathered her stuff and was heading for the bathroom.

"Fitz, you can't be serious," She said, smiling a little bit, hanging her towels on the back of the door, "We can't, and you know it. The nurses would kill me – and you're not strong enough for anything like that."

"Hey," He replied, his ego was much smaller than it had once been – but it still existed.

She smiled a little sympathetically as she disappeared into the bathroom. She dropped all her stuff on the counter – or so he presumed – and came back out. He was sitting in the chair, over in the corner and she went over and sat down on his lap.

"I'm getting discharged tomorrow, you know," He said as she put her arms around his neck.

"I'm aware," She replied, leaning in and kissing his cheek affectionately, lovingly, "We're going to bring you back to the house, and I'm going to take care of you."

"You're going to take care of me?" He gave her a surprised look, "Don't you have school?"

"I've already missed three weeks," She told him, "I'm putting off going to school. I'm staying home and helping you get better, and I'm going to work at the marina hospital, and then I'll go off to school for next semester. If I pick up an extra class each semester I'll still graduate on time without any problems."

He leaned in and kissed her, softly. He was gaining strength like it was nobody's business, and the only reason he didn't stand up and carry her into the shower with him himself was because he knew that she was right. They were still in the hospital, and he wasn't nearly as strong as he should have been. He had a bit of recovery to do before he could do all those little things like carrying her, and chasing her around. e was going to need his weights, that were in New York, but he liked the idea of recovering at the Pope's. His parents weren't good at things like taking care of him when he was sick – and he knew that between Olivia and Mrs. Pope, he might end up with a little too much care. He could remember when he had stayed home sick from school with the flu, and his mother had given him a bottle of Gatorade, and that was it. He was going to need a little more help than that – which he didn't like, but it was Liv.

"Thank-you," He took a deep breath, "You don't have to—"

"No," She said, "It's all settled, and it's ok. I'll be fine. You'll be a semester behind too – though I don't see that you would be very upset about that."

"No, not really," He replied, reaching up and playing with her hair, then burying his nose into her hair.

"After my shower wanna take a walk around the hospital for a while?" She asked him, pushing him as she got up and handed him his cane.

He was having trouble with his leg, putting weight on it was like shooting himself in the leg. It generated enough pain to almost make him fall over. He smiled a little bit as he held the cane down by his leg - and she smiled. He smirked.

"What?"

"Nothing," She replied, "You just – you pull it off."

"The cane?"

"Yeah," She smiled and he tapped it on the floor.

"Go, shower – make it quick when you take those long ones it's like torture knowing you're in there," She chuckled as he spoke, "But get out here soon ok? I'm getting tired."

"Ok," She said, leaning down and kissing him, passionately, "I love you."

"I love you, Livy," He told her, "I'll be here."


End file.
